Please join the American Politics Workshop as they host Elizabeth Thom, College Fellow and Assistant Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University.
In the United States, places with ties to manufacturing and extractive industries have experienced steep economic declines and major social disruptions. To weather these negative shocks, individuals in impacted communities have turned to the social safety net for help. Evidence from the social sciences indicates that industrial decline is associated with shifts to the political right and support for right-wing populism. However, existing accounts tend to overlook the role that the state has played in mediating the consequences of industrial decline. How does widespread reliance on federal social policies affect individuals and communities in postindustrial areas? And what are the political consequences?
In this book project, I advance a model that reexamines the channels through which social programs generate feedback effects. I argue that social programs, even when they are targeted at the individual-level, can generate community-wide feedback effects. These experiences ultimately inform the political behaviors of beneficiaries and nonbeneficiaries. I examine the theory using mixed methods at the individual and community levels and focus on one social program in particular: Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). I find that in postindustrial areas with high concentrations of SSDI beneficiaries, community-level feedback effects emerge as a stronger explanation for low levels of political participation than individual-level effects. Mechanisms at the community level, therefore, are crucial for understanding patterns of political behavior. The study’s findings contribute new insights into the complex political and policy dynamics at play in postindustrial communities and underscore the importance of local-level factors in driving political outcomes.
Elizabeth Thom is College Fellow and Assistant Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. Thom studies social and climate policy, political economy, and place-based inequality in the United States. Her research agenda focuses on the ways that major economic and social transformations reshape local community contexts, policy dynamics, and political behavior. She examines these issues using a range of methods and data sources, including in-depth field work, interviews, archives, and administrative records. Her current book project explores the policy responses to extractive industry decline in Appalachia and their consequences for both individuals and communities. She is also engaged in policy-oriented research on community-driven, regional strategies for the U.S. energy transition. Thom received her BA in Political Science and Hispanic Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, her MSc in Comparative Social Policy from the University of Oxford, and her AM and PhD from Harvard University.