Matías Bargsted
Matías Bargsted Valdés is a Chilean sociologist and academic. His research focuses on political sociology, public opinion, and quantitative methods in social research.
He is a professor at the Institute of Sociology of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where he has also held academic administrative positions.
In 2014, Bargsted received the Edgardo Catterberg Award, together with Nicolás Somma and Juan Carlos Castillo, for the best paper presented at the VI Latin American Congress of the World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR), for Political Trust in Latin America.
Academic career
Bargsted earned his degree in sociology and a master's degree in the same discipline from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. He later continued his studies at the University of Michigan, where he received a PhD in political science in 2011.
During his doctoral studies, he was affiliated with the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES). He had previously worked on its second module and joined its secretariat in Ann Arbor in 2009.
In 2012, Bargsted joined the Institute of Sociology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile as an assistant professor, a position he held until 2019. Since 2020, he has served as an associate professor at the same institution. He later became director of the Institute of Sociology. He has also served as an associate researcher at the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (COES), within its Political and Social Conflict research area.
Media appearances
Bargsted has regularly participated in public debate through interviews and expert commentary in Chilean and international media, particularly on electoral politics, public opinion, and the social consequences of the 2019–2020 Chilean protests.
In October 2024, he gave an interview to Radio Universidad de Chile in which he discussed declining public support for the 2019 protests under the Presidency of Gabriel Boric. Bargsted argued that, in light of more immediate concerns such as public insecurity and the failure of Chile's two constitutional processes, the symbolic importance of the protests had lost prominence in public opinion.
In December 2025, he was interviewed by the Spanish newspaper El País about the political strategy of Chilean presidential candidate José Antonio Kast. Bargsted argued that Kast tended to avoid making his ideological positions explicit and instead prioritized controlling the public agenda, particularly on issues related to public security.
Selected works
Articles
- With Nicolás Somma, “Social cleavages and political dealignment in contemporary Chile, 1995–2009”, Party Politics.
- With Sebastián Valenzuela, Nicolás de la Cerda and Bernardo Mackenna, “Participación ciudadana en las elecciones municipales de 2012: diagnóstico y propuestas en torno al sistema de voto voluntario”.
- With Nicolás Somma, “La autonomización de la protesta en Chile”, in Aprendizaje de la ciudadanía: contextos, experiencias y resultados.
- With Nicolás Somma and Juan Carlos Castillo, “Political Trust in Latin America”.
- With Luis Maldonado, “Party Identification in an Encapsulated Party System: The Case of Postauthoritarian Chile”, Journal of Politics in Latin America.
- With Nicolás Somma, Camila Ortiz and Ignacio Cáceres, “Social and Political Trust in a Low Trust Society”, Political Behavior.