Dr. Thierry Rossier is a postdoctoral researcher in sociology. He is particularly interested in inequalities, elites and quantitative descriptive methods (multiple correspondence analysis, social network analysis, sequence analysis). As of January 2021, he is a visiting fellow at the Department of Sociology at LSE, with an 18-month grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation. Between May 2019 and December 2020, he was a guest research fellow at the Department of Organization at Copenhagen Business School. Before that, he did his PhD at the University of Lausanne, and worked for a year and a half as a postdoctoral researcher there.
He has three main axes of research:
1. He is developing a research project on gendered relations in elite occupations. At the LSE, he is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation to uncover the gendered selection and career mechanisms in top (managerial, professional and cultural) occupations in a cross-national, historical and biographical perspective at the European level. In future research, he plans to work on the gendered processes of integration into top corporate power, by looking at the gendered dimensions of corporate networks and careers in a European comparative strategy.
2. He works on power relations among elites and on elite coordination. He studies the evolution of elite networks, the changes in the composition of the most cohesive and integrated core in the network, i.e. the power elite, and the changing structure of the field of power in Switzerland between 1910 and 2015. He also works on elite networks and on the structure of their different forms of capital in other national cases, for instance under the Chilean military regime.
3. He focuses on the structure of scientific fields, particularly on economics. He studies careers and networks of economics professors, in Switzerland, and is also currently developing a project on the diversity of resources and discourses of UK economists who signed a petition either for or against Brexit. He recently co-edited a collective book titled “Power and Influence of Economists. Contributions to the Social Studies of Economics” (Routledge).
Publications
ROSSIER, Thierry, GRAU LARSEN, Anton, HOUMAN ELLERSGAARD, Christoph, AAGAARD LUNDING, Jacob, 2022, From integrated to fragmented elites. The core of Swiss elite networks 1910-2015. The British Journal of Sociology, 00, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12929
MAESSE, Jens, PÜHRINGER, Stephan, ROSSIER, Thierry & BENZ, Pierre (Eds.), 2021, Power and Influence of Economists. Contributions to the Social Studies of Economics, Oxford & New York: Routledge.
GAUTIER MORIN, Johanna, & ROSSIER, Thierry, 2020, The Interaction of Elite Networks in the Pinochet Regime’s Macroeconomic Policies. Global Networks.
ROSSIER, Thierry, 2020, Accumulation and conversion of capitals in professorial careers. The importance of scientific reputation, network relations, and internationality in economics and business studies. Higher Education.
ROSSIER, Thierry, 2019, Prosopography, Networks, Life Course Sequences, and so on. Quantifying with or beyond Bourdieu? Bulletin of Sociological Methodology, 144(1): 6-39.
ROSSIER, Thierry & BÜHLMANN, Felix, 2018, Internationalisation of Economics and Business Studies: Import of Excellence, Cosmopolitan Capital or American Dominance? Historical Social Research, 43(3): 189-215.
BÜHLMANN, Felix, ROSSIER, Thierry & BENZ, Pierre, 2018, The Elite Placement Power of Professors of Law and Economic Sciences, in KORSNES, Olav, HJELLBREKKE, Johs., SAVAGE, Mike, HEILBRON, Johan, & BÜHLMANN, Felix (Eds.), New Directions in Elite Studies, Oxford & New York: Routledge: 247-264.
BÜHLMANN, Felix, BENZ, Pierre, MACH, André & ROSSIER, Thierry, 2017, Mapping the Power of Law Professors: the Role of Scientific and Social Capital, Minerva. A Review of Science, Learning and Policy, 55(4): 509-531.
ROSSIER, Thierry, BÜHLMANN, Felix & MACH, André, 2017, The Rise of Professors of Economics and Business Studies in Switzerland: between Scientific Reputation and Political Power, European Journal of Sociology, 58(2): 295-326.