Dear all, You are cordially invited to submit abstracts for the workshop "Exploring the Impact of Social Policies on People's Lives: Nordic Welfare States in a Comparative Perspective" taking place 8 - 9 June 2023 at the University of Oslo. Socioeconomic scarcity has had a bearing on people's lives in economic, social, and political terms. Although welfare states have been quite successful in developing far-reaching social insurance systems to protect their citizens, their effect has been uneven. Thus, this workshop aims to explore how socio-economic scarcity and various social policies, separately or together, impact people's lives - with a special attention to their political opinions (including redistribution preferences), social attitudes, democratic participation, evaluation of their institutional systems, and party preferences. Here, we adopt a broad conceptualisation of welfare state and social policies, and encourage comparisons across different welfare states including the most generous one in the Nordic countries. Therefore, please submit your proposal even if your research does not include any Nordic country. Paper proposals consisting of the full title, a brief abstract (maximum 300 words), and a list of all authors (including their affiliations) should be sent to Miroslav Nemčok (miroslav.nemcok@stv.uio.no) by 5 March 2023. The applicants will be informed about the decision within two weeks. The workshop will last two days, and the selection of papers will be motivated by a demand for cross-disciplinary and multi-method approaches. The workshop plans to bring together scholars from political science, sociology, social policy, public administration, history of economics, and related fields. The selection will stress the need for a variety of methodological approaches - combining quantitative and qualitative techniques as well as the policy analysis and examination of the historical trajectories of the welfare state developments. Women, junior scholars, and other academically underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply. There is no participation fee. We will provide selected meals, and accommodation for all participants. In addition, there are a few travel grants available, granting preference to junior scholars. Please include your interest in a travel grant in the submission email. The workshop is generously funded by NordForsk through the ReNEW research hub, and the Research Council of Norway through the Welfare State Support and Political Trust (WELTRUST) project. For more details see attachment, https://bit.ly/Politics_and_SocietyOSLO, or get in touch via email to miroslav.nemcok@stv.uio.no<mailto:miroslav.nemcok@stv.uio.no>. Best Miroslav On behalf of the whole organising committee --- Miroslav Nemčok, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Fellow University of Oslo, Department of Political Science Personal web: http://www.miroslavnemcok.com/ Recent articles: Softening the corrective effect of populism: populist parties' impact on political interest<https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2022.2089963> (West European Politics) Distance and Trust: An Examination of the Two Opposing Factors Impacting Adoption of Postal Voting Among Citizens Living Abroad<https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-021-09709-7> (Political Behavior) As time goes by, the same sentiments apply? Stability of voters' satisfaction with democracy during the electoral cycle in 31 countries<https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1354068820912466> (Party Politics) Active and Passive: Two Ways Party Systems Influence Electoral Outcomes<https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755773919000250> (European Political Science Review) Majoritarian and Consensual Democracies: The Seat Product Connection<https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1354068819871441> (Party Politics)