Profile

I study political behavior and electoral politics in developed democracies. My research mainly addresses how political divisions and animosities between social groups are shaped by the interplay of economic structure, social environments, and psychological mechanisms. To theorize the interactions of these macro-, meso-, and micro-level factors, I combine perspectives of political economy, political sociology, and political psychology. Among contentious social divisions, I have focused on studying why class, gender, and geographic divides in political attitudes arise in contemporary democracies. I use big data analysis, deep learning, spatial analysis, statistical causal inference, and survey methodology to answer these questions.

I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Government at Harvard University in May 2026. I was a visiting fellow at the University of Amsterdam in the Fall of 2022 and at the SciencesPo Center for European Studies and Comparative Politics in the Spring of 2023. 

Education

• Ph.D. in Government, Harvard University, 2026
• M.A. in Political Science, Seoul National University, 2018
• B.A. in Economics, Political Science (double major), Seoul National University, 2016
  
  

Research Interests

Public Opinion, Political Economy, Political Socialization, Political Psychology, Developed Democracies, Comparative Politics, American Politics

Select Publication and Working Papers

• Park, Sun Young, “Stereotyping Women with Sympathy: Youth Political Socialization in Mixed- Gender Environments”, Political Behavior (2025)
• Park, Sun Young, “The Sequential Rise of Political Animosity in Economically Declining and Prospering Places: Evidence from 3 Billion Geo-located Tweets” (link)
• Park, Sun Young, Jacob R. Brown, and Ryan D. Enos, “How Political Geography Shapes Political Expression: Effects of Composition, Competition, and Representation”