For decades, deindustrialization has been inflicting collateral damage far beyond displaced manufacturing workers, by affecting the lives of working-class families and driving formerly industrialized areas into deprivation. This is politically relevant, as systematic social differentiation in political behaviour occurs because the consequences of a phenomenon are materially or symbolically different for different groups. Yet, until now, deindustrialization has too narrowly been understood as an economic experience rather than a socio-political one. However, the recent rejection of the political establishment in formerly industrialized regions during this Trump/Brexit moment have ushered scholarly discussions of place and class politics back to the forefront. This talk will discuss how differential exposure to deindustrialization, engendered by the social stratification of manufacturing work and geographical stratification of manufacturing production in industrial societies, has contributed to systematic differences in political attitudes and behaviours.

Anne-Marie Jeannet is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Milan. She studies how changes in the social structure, such as deindustrialization or immigration, alter political life. She is the principal investigator of "Deindustrializing Societies and the Political Consequences" (DESPO), a project funded by an ERC Starting Grant (2020-2025).