Why some places don’t seem to matter: Socioeconomic, cultural and political determinants of place resentment

Confidence Across Cleavage: The Swiss Rural–Urban Divide, Place‐Based Identity and Political Trust

“…Switzerland is a very peculiar case for several reasons: First, it is a relatively small country and rural and urban places lie geographically close together, which could reduce a mental gap between rural and urban residents. Second, there are only a few very large cities in while many cities are somewhat smaller and have a more rural feel than the very large cities in other countries (see Huijsmans, 2023, for a similar argument in the Netherlands). Lastly, there is some institutional protection of the political interests of rural cantons, such as the Council of States and the Majority of the Cantons.…”

“…While I measure it with a subjective self-categorization by respondents, many papers also rely on an objective measure (e.g. Huijsmans, 2023), using for example the number of inhabitants, density of inhabitants or functional criteria such as number of commuters and the link of continuity of the developed area (Nemerever & Rogers, 2021). In Switzerland, there exists a typology by the Federal Statistics Office that relies on a number of objective criteria, i.e.…”

Country Bumpkin or City Slicker? The Role of Place of Living and Place-Based Identity in Explaining Place-Based Resentment

“…The roots of this divide are said to lie in place-based resentment, which describes the feeling that one’s area is being disadvantaged compared to other areas. Residents holding place-based resentment feel as if their area is ignored by the political elite, not receiving its fair share of resources and not being respected by the inhabitants of other areas (Cramer 2016; Huijsmans 2023b; Munis 2022). In this sense, place of living can be viewed as a social identity (Tajfel and Turner 2004).…”

“…In this sense, place of living can be viewed as a social identity (Tajfel and Turner 2004). Recent studies by Munis (2022), Huijsmans (2023b), and Borwein and Lucas (2023) address the concept of place-based resentment by exploring its determinants and effects. Huijsmans (2023b) investigates the macro-level in the Netherlands and finds that place-based resentment is related to the level of local unemployment, the share of knowledge economy, the linguistic distance to Standard Dutch and physical proximity of national MPs.…”

“…Recent studies by Munis (2022), Huijsmans (2023b), and Borwein and Lucas (2023) address the concept of place-based resentment by exploring its determinants and effects. Huijsmans (2023b) investigates the macro-level in the Netherlands and finds that place-based resentment is related to the level of local unemployment, the share of knowledge economy, the linguistic distance to Standard Dutch and physical proximity of national MPs. Munis (2022) investigates determinants at the micro-level for the US and finds age, gender, urbanity, ethnicity, racial resentment and, finally, place-based identity to influence place-based resentment.…”