Anna Schwenck’s research lies at the intersection of cultural and political sociology. 
She is particularly interested in how cultural understandings, be they transnational or locally specific, shape political behavior.

Her monograph Flexible Authoritarianism. Cultivating Ambition and Loyalty in Russia
(Oxford University Press) shows why winners of globalization come to support authoritarianism.
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It received the Mary Douglas Prize for Best Book in the Sociology of Culture (ASA), an honorable mention by the Council of European Studies’ (European Studies Book Award ) and was shortlisted for the 2025 Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Book Award in Political Sociology (ASA).

In her more recent work, she investigates how musics, visuals and performances may lend political claims plausibility. What are the conditions under which politics’ aesthetic appeal become socially relevant? How do cultural productions co-create political meanings and shape collective identifications?