“Insecurity Politics skillfully marries political and cultural analysis to offer a refreshing multidimensional analysis of the growing popularity of the rise of populist politics. Connecting symbolic boundaries and political cleavages with experiences of insecurity at the micro level, Antonucci sheds new light on the dynamics fostered by macrolevel structural changes. This important book should be read broadly by sociologists and political scientists alike.”—Michèle Lamont, past president of the American Sociological Association and author of The Dignity of Working Men-------------------------------- “Insecurity Politics is the most comprehensive study of its subject to date. Lorenza Antonucci explores the economic, social, and political dimensions of insecurity in nine European countries since the 1980s, illuminating the ways in which they have interacted to produce the populist politics of the past decade. Antonucci deploys a rich mix of intensive case studies and quantitative evidence to illuminate this most pressing phenomenon of our time. Of particular interest, Insecurity Politics shows how the policies adopted by mainstream parties have contributed to the politics that has eroded their support and that they now decry. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand today’s politics—and what to do about it.”—Ian Shapiro, author of After the Fall: From the End of History to the Crisis of Democracy, How Politicians Broke Our World-------------------------------- “Insecurity Politics is a much-needed addition to the literature on populism and the contemporary challenges facing democracies. Antonucci’s book provides an empirically grounded and theoretically sophisticated understanding of insecurity, showing that it is a fundamentally socioeconomic phenomenon: grounded in changing economic conditions but encompassing destabilizing social changes as well. By so doing, Insecurity Politics helps us better understand how economic, social, and cultural factors have interacted to create a breeding ground for a politics of discontent and division over the past decades.”—Sheri Berman, Barnard College-------------------------------- “Although precarity differs from insecurity, this book shows how insecurity is driving the world into right-wing populism and antidemocratic leaders. That insecurity breeds populism should not be surprising. What is most alarming is that mainstream politicians have done precious little to arrest it.”—Guy Standing, author of The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class-------------------------------- “Antonucci brilliantly integrates economic and cultural influences on population to clearly explain aspects of current European politics that many find confusing. Combining the new economic sociology with a sociological approach that focuses on the individual more than institutions, delving into people’s lives, and understanding the origins of the new insecurity, Antonucci presents a new way forward to better connect social concerns to politics—across Europe.”—Danny Dorling, University of Oxford-------------------------------- “This book offers a powerful way of making links between micro changes experienced by individuals and large-scale, society-wide macro changes—an arresting argument that will only gain more interest given events in the United States.”—Mike Savage, London School of Economics and Political Science-------------------------------- “A masterful and exciting new vision of the true nature of insecurity, the relationship between insecurity and populism, and the possibilities this paradigm holds for new political approaches.”—Chrystin Ondersma, Rutgers Law School