The Université Grenoble Alpes is recruiting 1 PhD student as part of the ERC Consolidator Grant Project:

The Politicisaton of Economic Inequality: The Impact of Welfare Regimes, Elites' Discourse and Media Frames on Citizens' Perceptions, Justice Evaluations and Political Behaviour

(POLINEQUAL)

Project summary and background
POLINEQUAL aims to study the causes and mechanisms that motivate citizens to respond to economic inequalities. Conceptually, it is based on the assumption that:

1. individual perceptions of economic inequality are biased because they are mediated by evaluations of justice and therefore do not reflect objective levels of economic inequality,
2. perceptions of economic inequality are informed by facts, ideological cues, media representations and personal heuristics,
3. these perceptions and justice evaluations are malleable to the extent that economic inequality is politicized, and
4. perceptions and evaluations of economic inequality elicit emotional, attitudinal and behavioural responses.

POLINEQUAL follows two paths: First, it investigates the nature of the relationships between political discourses, media representations, ideological cues and individual perceptions and justice evaluations of economic inequality, and the extent to which these are conditioned by collectively shared norms of distributive justice. Second, it examines the impact of individual perceptions and evaluations of inequality on emotions and political behaviour. Its aim is to develop a theoretical framework that explains the causes and mechanisms of individual perceptions of economic inequality that depend on national institutional arrangements, ideological cues, media representations and personal heuristics. POLINEQUAL's research design is based on a mixed-method approach, organised in different stages and combining data from focus groups, analyses of political discourse and media content, online surveys and experimental studies. Pursuing a comparative perspective, POLINEQUAL data will be partly collected in France, Sweden and the UK.

The POLINEQUAL team will be composed of three PhD students, one postdoc and the project leader.

Means and embeddedness of the PhD thesis in the project
The candidate will participate in the entire process of collecting qualitative, quantitative and experimental data and develop data analysis skills. Methodological training will be offered. In addition, the successful candidate will co-author publications and participate in national and international scientific conferences. Within this framework, the candidate will have to construct an original PhD thesis project based mainly but not exclusively on the data collected.

Constraints related to the position
The candidate must reside in the urban community of Grenoble, France, and participate regularly in the activities of PACTE, the research institute POLINEQUAL is affiliated with.

Expected skills and competences
Proven skills in quantitative and statistical analysis
Knowledge of statistical software (Stata and/or SPSS)
Genuine interest in and willingness to collect and explore qualitative data (focus groups, political discourse and media representations); methodological training offered
Very good oral and written skills in English (project language)
Very good oral and written skills in Swedish

Requirements to apply
Hold a Master's degree (or equivalent) in political science, sociology or another discipline of the human and social sciences.
Having already worked on welfare states, economic inequality, moral economy, political attitudes or related topics will be an important selection criterion.

Selection process
The selection will be made on the basis of the applications, completed by interviews (via videoconference call or face-to-face interview).

Composition of the application file
CV
BA, Master 1 and Master 2 transcripts
Research dissertation written during the master's degree and/or other academic work relevant to this position
Document explaining the motivations for POLINEQUAL topics and the relevant knowledge/skills acquired (2 to 3 pages recommended)

Applications should be sent to: sonja.zmerli@sciencespo-grenoble.fr
by 24 January 2021

Details on the position and PACTE

PACTE laboratory (Social Sciences Laboratory) is a research institute which brings together most of the political scientists, sociologists, geographers and urbanists of the Grenoble site, which is one of the largest research centres in France in the field of social sciences.

Type of recruitment and percentage: PhD student contract, 100%
Duration: 3 years (+2 years extension possible)
Monthly remuneration, doctoral student allowance: 1,758.00 € gross
Start of project: October 1, 2020, start of working contract: February 1st, 2021
Location of workplace: Laboratoire Pacte (Unité Mixte de Recherche 5194; www.pacte-grenoble.fr); 1030 Avenue centrale, 38400 Saint Martin d'Hères, France
PhD thesis supervisor: Sonja ZMERLI, professor of political science, http://www.sciencespo-grenoble.fr/membres/zmerli-sonja/

Contact Prof. Sonja Zmerli (sonja.zmerli@sciencespo-grenoble.fr), for more information on this position.