There is nothing here! : unequal access to services and rural resentment in Spain
García Del Horno, Rubén (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Ciència Política i de Dret Públic)

Date:	2026
Abstract:	The rural-urban divide in political attitudes and behaviour has gained increasing attention in recent years. One of the key unresolved debates in this regard has to do with which contextual factors fuel higher levels of place-based resentment among rural populations. Within this framework, this paper examines whether disparities in access to essential services-healthcare, education, roads, and internet-in rural municipalities shape residents' levels of rural resentment. For this purpose, official statistics data on access to services across the territory and data from a novel survey in Spain on satisfaction with services and levels of place-based resentment of rural inhabitants are matched. The results reveal that disadvantageous inequalities in access to services are associated with higher levels of rural resentment. Moreover, they also show that these effects are partially mediated by the satisfaction with the services. More broadly, the findings of this article remind us of the importance of turning to daily events and the reality of the territory to develop explanations of current relevant phenomena such as the rural-urban divide.
Grants:	European Commission 822166 Agencia Estatal de Investigación PCI2020-111990 Generalitat de Catalunya PRE111/21/000004
Note:	Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UAB
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Rural-urban divide ; Place-based resentment ; Access to services ; Satisfaction with services
Published in:	Political Geography, Vol. 126 (April 2026) , art. 103504, ISSN 0962-6298

DOI: 10.1016/j.polgeo.2026.103504

10 p, 876.8 KB

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