Recent electoral shifts in Western knowledge societies reveal strong spatial polarization: metropolitan areas increasingly support progressive and liberal parties, while rural and peripheral regions gravitate toward conservative and radical right parties. This research project seeks to address this puzzle by bridging two key strands of literature: one emphasizing the knowledge economy as a driver of geographic polarization, and another focusing on place-based resentment that largely overlooked knowledge-related factors.

Duration:
01 January 2026 - 31 December 2029

Research Team:
Nils Bandelow (Head of project)
Prof. Dr. Lukas Haffert (Head of project)

Recent electoral shifts in Western knowledge societies reveal strong spatial polarization: metropolitan areas increasingly support progressive and liberal parties, while rural and peripheral regions gravitate toward conservative and radical right parties.

A key concept explaining these patterns is “place-based resentment,” which captures place-based grievances related to economic decline, political neglect, and cultural marginalization. Yet it remains unclear why such resentment emerges even in affluent, politically influential rural regions like Switzerland, Norway, and the Netherlands.

This research project seeks to address this puzzle by bridging two key strands of literature: one emphasizing the knowledge economy as a driver of geographic polarization, and another focusing on place-based resentment that largely overlooked knowledge-related factors. To bridge these literatures, we introduce the concept of "epistemic resentment." It describes the frustration and marginalization experienced by residents of rural or peripheral regions when they perceive their practical, local, and experience-based knowledge to be systematically undervalued compared to abstract, theoretical, and scientifically authorized expertise from metropolitan areas. Nevertheless, we approach the concept in a way that makes it open for urbanites, e.g. when they feel that the kind of scientific expertise they embrace is ignored or sidelined by rural populations or political parties. We expect epistemic resentment to be especially relevant in knowledge-intensive policy areas such as climate change, agriculture, and public health. Employing a comprehensive mixed-methods approach, this project aims to provide a multidimensional understanding of epistemic resentment and its political consequences.

In the first phase, we will hold focus groups in both rural and urban settings in Central Switzerland (including Zurich) and Eastern Germany. This comparative design will help us explore how epistemic marginalization is articulated and interacts with economic, political, and cultural dimensions of resentment. Furthermore, it allows us to capture its distinct manifestations in “rural” versus “peripheral” contexts. Insights from this qualitative analysis will guide the development of a context-sensitive survey instrument designed to accurately measure epistemic resentment across diverse settings.

In the second phase, we will assess how epistemic resentment shapes political attitudes and behaviors, such as support for populist parties, mistrust in political institutions, and positions on policy issues like environmental and public health measures. Again, we will combine a quantitative, survey-based analysis with a qualitative strategy. To do so, we will conduct narrative-biographical interviews to gain insights into personal experiences of epistemic marginalization. These interviews will not only illustrate how epistemic resentment influences political attitudes and behaviors but will also allow exploring whether the place of residence or the place of socialization matters more for shaping epistemic resentment. Furthermore, this qualitative data will help identify distinct "types" of place-based resentment, characterized by coherent configurations of individual attitudes, life experiences, and local contexts. By integrating qualitative and quantitative methods, this project clarifies the conditions under which epistemic resentment emerges and evaluates its role in geographic and political polarization. In particular, it will help to explain why resentment is prominent in regions that can hardly be described as economically or politically marginalized. Moreover, the answers obtained will have political importance for the question of what to do about this resentment. If the question whose knowledge counts is hotly contested in “left-behind” areas, policies that aim to integrate these places more strongly into the knowledge economy may experience unexpected resistance.

More Information

Duration:
01 January 2026 - 31 December 2029

Research Team:
Nils Bandelow (Head of project)
Prof. Dr. Lukas Haffert (Head of project)

Project Type:
Cooperation Project