The aim of this project is to reveal how a person’s individual, family, and local community experiences of manufacturing decline shape the way they participate in politics and their political attitudes over the course of their life.
More specifically, the PI shall answer the following questions: How and why has a long-term manufacturing decline affected the political participation, party loyalty, and political attitudes of: a) industrial workers who have been displaced or experience job insecurity, b) spouses and children of industrial workers who have been displaced or faced job insecurity and c) residents of local areas affected by chronic manufacturing decline?
DESPO will focus on the long-term consequences by studying a rich time frame which spans five decades of manufacturing decline and political behaviour (1965-2015). It will examine an exhaustive series of political attitudes and behaviours which can be broadly categorized by: a) If and how people vote; b) what people believe and think about their political system; and c) how strongly people are attached and identify with political parties.