Cohort: ESOL 41

Topic of the thesis: The privilege of being future proof - Mapping access to sustainable employment and its effects on public opinion formation

Abstract: This project puts forward that the configuration of local economies might be the main driver of public opinion formation, at least in the field of environmental policy. The geographical distribution of green jobs, together with the shared experience of noxious deindustrialisation determine the exposure of a local economy to the energy transition. As in, the amount of change the established mode of production ought to undergo for the regional economic structure to survive the transition. Living and working in an exposed area might lead to a fear of loss or the anticipation of future downward mobility. If this sentiment becomes widely shared in concentrated geographical areas, it may contribute to explaining the ubiquitousness of zero-sum, "job-killing arguments in public discourse around environmental policy. Through a mixed-methods approach, this contribution's goal is to establish and explain the theoretically puzzling fact that rallying political support behind policies that should be beneficial to the whole population is all but simple.

Research interests: Social stratification, Public opinion formation, Natural Language Processing

Graduated from: University of Bologna

Degrees obtained: BSc in Economics, MA in Politics and Social Policy

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