By Marianne Fuglsang Welling Farsinsen, AAU Communication and Public Affairs

Throughout his career, the internationally renowned sociologist Peter Hedström has been a central figure in the establishment of analytical sociology - a sociological current focusing on how individual action and social relations between people shape social processes and phenomena on an overall societal level. At the same time, he has had a decisive impact on the field's methodological debates as well as its theoretical and empirical direction. In particular, he has contributed to the mechanism-based approach to sociological explanations.

Founder of Analytical Sociology

Peter Hedström received his Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University in 1987 and has since held professorships at some of the world's leading universities: University of Chicago, Stockholm University, University of Oxford, Singapore Management University, and NYU Abu Dhabi. He is currently Professor of Analytical Sociology at Linköping University and Senior Research Fellow at NuNield College in Oxford. In addition, he is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and Letters, the Royal Swedish Academy of Literature, History and Antiquities, and the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters.

Professor Peter Hedström is the founder of the Department of Analytical Sociology at Linköping University, which is characterized by its leading expertise in Analytical Sociology, advanced network analysis, satellite data analysis, register data and other forms of big data, all closely integrated with geographically oriented analysis. The department is a world-leading hub for research in computer-based social sciences. 

Peter Hedström's publications are both prestigious and influential. His books, including Social Mechanisms (1998), Dissecting the Social (2005) and The Oxford Handbook of Analytical Sociology (2009), have been published by Cambridge and Oxford University Press and are considered major works in the field of analytical sociology. He has also published in leading journals such as the Annual Review of Sociology, the European Sociological Review and Social Forces.

In recent years, Professor Peter Hedström's research has focused in particular on segregation processes and their social dynamics. This research has been supported by some of the most prestigious research foundations, including the European Research Council, the Swedish Research Council and the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation. 

"Peter Hedström is recognized as one of the founders of analytical sociology – an approach that explains social phenomena by identifying the causal mechanisms through which individual actions and social interaction generate collective results," says Professor Anja Jørgensen, Department of Society and Politics, AAU, who has collaborated with Peter Hedström's research group at Linköping University for a number of years.

"His pioneering work on social networks and mechanism-based explanations has shown how precise micro-macroanalyses can shed light on segregation, inequality and social change, and thus contribute to the development of sociological theory and methodology. His distinction between environmental effects, social interaction effects and selection effects has had a major impact on research on neighbourhood effects and on the broader understanding of how place and local context are important," Anja Jørgensen elaborates and continues:

The appointment of Professor Peter Hedström as an honorary doctor at AAU will take place at the AAU Annual Celebration on 17 April 2026.