Book Launch: 'Insecurity Politics'

Date: 17 March 2026
Time: 12:30pm - 2pm 
Location: Sociology Seminar Room 

This talk consisted of the book launch of Insecurity Politics in Cambridge (UK), which preceded the presentation in Cambridge (US) at Harvard University where the book project started. 

In Insecurity Politics, Dr Lorenza Antonucci examines the lived, everyday experiences that underpin political disaffection. Countering the reductive portrayals of populist voters as left-behind outsiders, Antonucci focuses on the ordinary, yet increasingly precarious, realities of work and financial instability as key to understanding the surge in populist support in both right- and left-wing politics. 

Drawing on robust comparative quantitative and qualitative analyses across nine European countries, Insecurity Politics describes the microlevel material and cultural dynamics that drive anti-establishment politics. It finds that dissatisfaction with work and a growing sense of financial insecurity fuel populist sentiments. Proposing an original framework that combines cultural and economic explanations, the book shows how economic, social, and political factors shape receptivity to anti-establishment politics. 

Dr Antonucci was joined in conversation by Dr Ned Crowley and Dr Margarita Gelepithis.

Insecurity Politics was released on 31 March 2026, and the introduction can be read online: https://press.princeton.edu/books/ebook/9780691287300/insecurity-politics#preview

Speaker biography:

Dr Lorenza Antonucci is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Cambridge and was the German Kennedy Memorial Fellow at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University in 2022-2023. Lorenza has published widely on the causes and effects of insecurity and inequality across sociology (e.g., European Sociological Review, Current Sociology), political science (Comparative Political Studies, Electoral Studies) and social policy (e.g., Social Policy & Administration). Antonucci’s work has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, and Le Monde and on the BBC among others.
 

Access note: Historic building. The seminar room is accessed via two flights of steps/a lift and then a further two flights of stairs accessed through a heavy set of doors. There is no step-free access. The lift is not accessible to wheelchair users, but may assist with other mobility issues.