University of Gothenburg
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Mattias Wahlström

Senior Lecturer

Department of Sociology and Work
Science
Telephone
+46 31-786 48 30
Mail
mattias.wahlstrom@socav.gu.se
Visiting address
Skanstorget 18
41122 Göteborg
Room number
F408
Postal address
Box 720
40530 Göteborg

Assistant Head of Department

Department of Sociology and Work
Science
Telephone
+46 31-786 48 30
Mail
mattias.wahlstrom@socav.gu.se
Visiting address
Skanstorget 18
41122 Göteborg
Postal address
Box 720
40530 Göteborg

About Mattias Wahlström

MATTIAS WAHLSTRÖM is, since January 2022, Assistant Head of Department with responsibility for research and research education at the Department of Sociology and Work Science.

He defended his doctoral thesis in 2011: "The making of protest and protest policing: Negotiation, Knowledge, Space, and Narrative," which concerns contemporary political protest and the policing of protest in Sweden and Denmark. Based on qualitative analysis of interviews, observations and documents, various aspects of this area are explored, such as negotiation, provocation, spatial interaction, and organisational police change.

Between 2009 and 2013 he was part of the international research programme “Caught in the act of protest: contextualizing contention (CCC)” (see http://www.protestsurvey.eu/). Together with Abby Peterson and Magnus Wennerhag, he was part of a follow-up research project focusing on Pride parades in Europe and Mexico, subsequently co-authoring the book Pride Parades and LGBT movements (Routledge).

Mattias has been the principal investigator of the following, now finished, research projects:

  • Collaboration and conflict in prevention of violent extremism in Sweden (Forte 2016-00925), with Jan Jämte (Örebro University), Magnus Wennerhag (Södertörn University), and Rune Ellefsen (University of Oslo).
  • Online social media as discursive opportunity structure for attacks against refugee housing facilities (VR 2016-03515), with Hans Ekbrand (GU), Anton Törnberg (GU) and Petter Törnberg (Chalmers).

Mattias is co-coordinator of Research Network 25 of the European Sociological Association, as well as the local research milieu CSM-RESIST.

Specialist Fields Social movements, political violence, police research, social media, philosophy of social science, LGBTQ-issues and narrative analysis.

Current research

Mattias Wahlström is currently principal investigator for the research project

  • The necessary and the possible: How social movements articulate, convey and negotiate visions of a fossil free and just future (Formas 2019-01961), with Joost de Moor (Stockholm University), Katrin Uba (Uppsala University), Magnus Wennerhag (Södertörn University) and Lotte Schack (GU).

He also participates in the research project:

  • Politically motivated crime in Sweden: When, where and how? (VR 2022-05487), with Anton Törnberg (GU, principal investigator).

During 2019, Mattias also had a central role in coordination of international protest surveys directed to participants in climate protests, which, inter alia, resulted in two research reports: Protest for a Future och Protest for a Future II.

Teaching and tutoring Criminology and general sociology, with a focus on social movements, political crime and police research.

Erasmus exchange lecturer at Charles University in Prague, October 2014. Guest lecturer at Eichstätt-Ingolstadt University, Eichstätt, 2012 and at Mazaryk University, Brno, 2014.