Our article “Of losers and laggards: The interplay of material conditions and individual perceptions in the shaping of EU discontent,” with Jorge Díaz Lanchas (ICADE) & Filippo di Pietro (US), has just been accepted in Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society.
Abstract: Two principal strands of scholarship analyse the material roots of European Union (EU) discontent. Some focus on the effects of regional decline, while others examine
the role of individual socioeconomic factors. This paper brings these two
perspectives together. We argue that EU discontent is a multifaceted phenomenon
structured by the spatially-rooted interplay between individual and regional material
conditions and subjective perceptions. We apply PLS-SEM to Eurobarometer public
opinion data (2018-2019) and find that the geographical location and the
socioeconomic position shape EU discontent directly. However, material factors’
relevance for EU discontent is the greatest in structuring individual future
expectations. Furthermore, democratic dissatisfaction turns out to be a key factor,
pointing to the importance of institutional perceptions in the geography of discontent.
The pre-print will be available online shortly.