Dr Lorenza Antonucci

Lorenza Antonucci is an Associate Professor in Sociology. Their research is concerned with understanding how societies are changing and reacting to growing work and financial precarity in Europe and globally. Antonucci has conducted several comparative projects on the causes of socio-economic insecurity and its effects in exacerbating inequalities and in driving the populist vote.

Before joining Cambridge, Antonucci was: Associate Professor/Deputy Director of Research (Methodology) at the College of Social Sciences at University of Birmingham (UK) (2017-2025); German Kennedy Memorial Fellow & Visiting Scholar at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (Harvard University) (2022-2023); Visiting Associate Professor at the Centre d'études européennes et de politique comparée (2022) and the AxPo Observatory of Market Society Polarization (2025) at Sciences Po, Paris.

Antonucci’s research has been published in international journals in sociology (e.g., European Sociological Review, Current Sociology), political science (e.g., Electoral Studies) and social policy (e.g., Social Policy and Administration). Her research and writing have been featured in numerous international outlets such as The New York Times, Slate, BBC4, The Guardian, Jacobin and The Independent. Their forthcoming book, Insecurity Politics (Princeton University Press, 2026), offers an in-depth examination of the role of insecurity in the political sociology of populist voting.

Antonucci has a keen interest in investigating insecurity both empirically (using quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods) and theoretically alongside other key sociological concepts across cultural and economic sociology, such as social status, recognition and sociology of risk.

Research Interests

precarity, financial insecurity, work insecurity, job quality, platform work, political sociology, populism, voting and non-voting, welfare state changes, labour market policies, comparative research, digital methods, mixed methods, social status, sociology of risk

Research Projects

ESRC New Investigator, ‘The effects of gig work on workers' financial (in)security’ (GIGWELL), 2020-2023.

Volkswagen Foundation (Challenges for Europe): ‘Populist Roots: Economic and Cultural Explanations of Democracies in Europe’ (PRECEDE), PI & Working Package Lead, 2020-2024.

New Politics of Inequality in Brussels, Royal Society of Edinburgh, 2015.

Teaching

SOC3 (paper coordinator)
SOC5
CaRM "Digital and Online Research Methods"

Publications

Books

Antonucci, L. (2026, forthcoming) Insecurity Politics. How Uncertain Lives Lead to Populist Support, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Antonucci, L. (2016) Student Lives in Crisis. Deepening inequality in times of austerity, Bristol: Policy Press/Chicago University Press.

Antonucci, L., Hamilton, M. and S. Roberts (eds.) (2014) Young People and Social Policy in Europe: Dealing with risk, inequality and precarity in times of crisis, Work and Welfare series, Basingstoke: Palgrave.

Book Chapters

Antonucci, L. (2018) “Globalisation as a losing game? Reforming social policies to address the malaise of globalisation’s losers” in Diamond, P. (ed) The Crisis of Globalisation, London: IB Tauris, pp. 187-206.

Roberts, S. and Antonucci, L. (2016) “Youth Transitions, Welfare Policy & Contemporary Europe” in Lange, A., Steiner, C., Shutter, S. and H. Reiter (eds) German Handbook of Youth Sociology, Amsterdam: Springer, pp. 1-13.

Antonucci, L. Hamilton, M. and S. Roberts (2014) “Constructing a Theory of Youth and Social Policy” in Antonucci, L., Hamilton, M. and S. Roberts (eds.) Young People and Social Policy in Europe: Dealing with Risk, Inequality and Precarity in Times of Crisis, Work and Welfare in Europe, Basingstoke: Palgrave, pp. 13-34.

Antonucci, L. (2013) “Comparative research in higher education studies. Considering the different levels of comparisons and emerging methodological challenges” in Huisman, J. and M. Tight (eds) Theory and Methods in Higher Education Research, London: Emerald, pp. 1-19.

Journal Articles

Thomeczek, J. P., Zhirnov, A., Scotto di Vettimo, M., Buma, R., Cristea, V., Dolle, M., Antonucci, L., Di Stefano, R. and Ruggeri, F. (2025). One model to rule them all? Choosing two-dimensional spaces for European political landscapes with VAA data. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 1–10, doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2025.2469166.

Zhirnov, A., Thomeczek, J.P., Di Vettimo, M.S., Ortega, A.L., Krouwel, A., Antonucci, L., Di Stefano, R. and Kersting, N. (2025) “How congruent are populist parties with their constituencies? Evidence from the 2019 European Parliament Elections in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden”. Electoral Studies, 94, doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102906.

Antonucci, L. (2024) “The lived experiences of the welfare state of platform workers: The barriers to accessing social protection in Italy, Sweden and the UK”, International Journal of Social Welfare, 34 (1), doi/10.1111/ijsw.12708

Antonucci, L., Seo, H. and M. Strobl (2024) “Quantity over quality? How economic factors and welfare state interventions affected job insecurity and job quality before, during and after the economic crises”, Social Policy & Administration, 58 (2), 277-298, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/spol.13003

Zhirnov, A. and Antonucci, L. (first co-author), Thomeczek, P., Horvath, L., D’Ippoliti, C, Ospina, C., Krouwel, A. and N. Kersting (2024) “Precarity and populism: Explaining populist outlook and populist voting in Europe through subjective financial and work-related insecurity”, European Sociological Review, 40 (4), 704–720, https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcad052

Antonucci, L., D’Ippoliti, C., Horvath, L. and Krouwel, A. (2023) “What’s work got to do with it? How radical and mainstream party support is linked to feelings of precarity”, Sociological Research Online, 28 (1), https://doi.org/10.1177/13607804211020321

Antonucci, L. and Varriale, S. (2020) “Unequal Europe, unequal Brexit: How intra-European inequalities shape the unfolding and framing of Brexit”, Current Sociology, 68 (1): 41-59, https://doi.org/10.1177/001139211986383

Antonucci, L. (2018) “Not all experiences of precarious work lead to precarity: the case of young people at university and their welfare mixes”, Journal of Youth Studies, 21 (7): 888-904, https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2017.1421749

Antonucci, L., Horvath, L., Kutyski, Y. and Krouwel, A. (2017) “The malaise of the squeezed middle: Challenging the narrative of the left behind Brexiter”, Competition & Change, 21 (3): 211-229, https://doi.org/10.1177/102452941770413

Antonucci, L. (2011) “University Students in Transition to Adult Age. Comparing Italy and England”, Italian Journal of Social Policy, 15 (3): 271-289.

Policy Reports (selected)

Antonucci, L. (2025) The new politics of insecurity: Formulating a new political script and agenda that consider the emerging insecurity in European lives, The Progressive Compass, Foundation of European Progressive Studies, https://feps-europe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Next-Left-Vol-16-The-p...

Hooker J. and Antonucci L. (2022) Improving the EU Platform Work Directive proposal: a
contribution from emerging research findings, OSE Paper Series, Opinion Paper No. 28,
Brussels: European Social Observatory, available at: https://www.ose.be/sites/default/files/publications/2022_Hooker_Antonucc...

Antonucci, L. and Corti, F. (2020) “Inequalities in the European Semester”, Brussels: FEPS/Solidar, https://www.feps-europe.eu/attachments/publications/inequalities_in_the_...

Antonucci, L. (2019) “Fixing the European Social Malaise: Understanding and Addressing the Grievances of European Workers”, Mercator European Dialogue, The German Marshall Fund of the United States & IAI, July 2019, https://www.iai.it/sites/default/files/iaicom1946.pdf

Antonucci, L. (2017) “Addressing inequality in a changing world” in Reynolds, B. and Healy, S. Society Matters. Reconnecting People and the State, Dublin: Social Justice Ireland, pp. 35-48.

Antonucci, L. (2015) “Towards EU youth policies? The limits of current welfare states and the potential for a “Youth Transition Fund” (YTF)” in Reuter, C. (ed) Progressive Structural Reforms. Proposals for European reforms to reduce inequalities and promote jobs, growth and social investment, Brussels: Solidar, pp. 59-71.

Antonucci, L. (2013) “The future of the social dimension in European higher education: university for all, but without student support?” Perspectives on Youth: European Youth Partnership Series, Brussels: European Commission – Council of Europe, pp. 53-68.

Grants and Projects

German Kennedy Memorial Fellowship, Minda de Gunzburg Centre for European Studies Harvard University (total value: $70,000), 2022-2023.

ESRC New Investigator, ‘The effects of gig work on workers' financial (in)security’ (GIGWELL), PI (total value: £299,822), 2020-2023.

Volkswagen Foundation (Challenges for Europe): ‘Populist Roots: Economic and Cultural Explanations of Democracies in Europe’ (PRECEDE), Consortium lead grant writer, PI & Working Package Lead (total value: €1,000,000, PI share: £198,253), 2020-2024.

University of Birmingham: Birmingham Fellow start-up fund (total value: £10,000), 2017-2022; Horizon Europe Development Fund (total value: £4,950), 2024-2025.

Royal Society of Edinburgh Visiting Fellowship Grant: research on the new politics of inequality in the EU at ETUI/OSE in Brussels (total value: £3,000), 2015.

Policy Press, Policy & Politics PhD studentship: coverage of PhD fees, monthly allowance and a research budget (total value: £50,000), 2010-2013.