November 17-18, 2023
Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany
Conference Committee:
Sascha Göbel, Antonia Lang, Sigrid Roßteutscher

We invite scholars at any stage of their career to submit abstracts for a two-day conference on Research on “Rural-Urban Divides” held at Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany. The importance of the rural-urban divide as a major political cleavage has waxed and waned in the past. As of late, increasing public and academic discussion of the topic signals that rural-urban divides have substantially risen in significance again. Indeed, there appear to be salient, and growing, rural-urban divides in political behavior and attitudes in many Western democracies. The conference aims to bring together scholars who work on various aspects of contemporary rural-urban divides. Possible topics cover, but are not limited to, research on rural-urban differences in vote choice, partisanship, issue attitudes, democratic satisfaction or trust in politics; studies on the impact of rural-urban divides on social cohesion and democracy; investigations of compositional and contextual effects; research on place-based identities and resentments; and inquiries into methodological innovations in studying rural-urban divides. Work in progress is as welcomed as finished articles. We seek to invite advanced scholars and researchers in the early stages of their careers.

The conference will feature keynote speeches by two leading experts in the field (TBA). At the end of the first day, there will be a dinner to connect and meet with colleagues. As part of the conference, we also host a small book event to promote the planned edited volume, “The Rural-Urban Divide in Europe”, edited by Sigrid Roßteutscher, Kathrin Ackermann, Sascha Göbel, Antonia Lang, and Richard
Tranmüller. The event will feature a summary presentation of the edited volume, and its key findings, followed by a Q&A and discussion.

Submissions
Please submit an abstract of max. 250 words with a paper title and the name and affiliation of all authors to rude-conf@soz.uni-frankfurt.de. 

Deadline for abstract submission: June 30, 2023
Notification of acceptance: August 15, 2023 
Deadline for paper submission: November 3, 2023

Funding
There will be no registration fee. Travel and accommodation support for early career researchers (PhD students and PostDocs within 3 years of PhD) will be offered on a competitive basis for presenting authors without access to funding and in line with university regulations. Please indicate in your submission if you would like to apply for early career researcher support and how many years have
passed since you received your PhD or if you are an active PhD student.
Refreshments and conference meals, including lunch on both days and a conference dinner on the first day, will be covered.

 
Further information
Please direct any questions concerning the workshop, paper submissions, and/or
funding to: rude-conf@soz.uni-frankfurt.de