Perceptions and imaginaries about the fourth industrial revolution between geographies of opportunity and discontent: Some reflections on the Italian case

• Published in: The Geographical journal Vol. 189; no. 2; pp. 342 - 356
• Main Authors: Lazzeroni, Michela, Albanese, Valentina Erminia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.06.2023
• Subjects: Data mining; Discontent; Empirical analysis; Fourth industrial revolution; geography of discontent; imaginaries; Industry 4.0; Inequality; Italy; Pandemics; perceptions; Resentment; Sentiment analysis; Technological change
• ISSN: 0016-7398; 1475-4959
• DOI: 10.1111/geoj.12491

The pervasiveness of advanced technologies and their disruptive impact on society have spurred the debate on the emergence of a new industrial revolution and on its positive and negative effects, both at an individual and spatial level. This paper aims to contribute to this debate, focusing attention on the perception of changes related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and exploring new methods of analysis of the manifestations of both techno‐enthusiasm and opposition to it. Starting from the extensive literature in this field, the work adopts two research perspectives: the study of imaginaries and narratives developed around the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which convey different messages from social groups and places; the geographies of opportunity and discontent, which address the resentment expressed by some localities towards advanced technological models and growing inequalities. In this work the Fourth Industrial Revolution is not interpreted through data about the technological variables or interviews to protagonists of the phenomenon; rather, emphasis is on the points of view of non‐institutional subjects and, in particular, the opinions expressed by people on the Web. For this reason, the sentiment analysis has been adopted to identify both positive and negative polarities and the relevance of specific feelings through the selection of key words related to the notion of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The empirical analysis based on this methodology focuses on the Italian case in a specific period (first and second phase of the pandemic, from January 2020 to September 2021) and, at a local level, on the comparison between four medium‐sized cities (Pisa, Lecce, Taranto and Terni). This paper also tries to extend recent contributions through the provision of new perspectives for the definition of policies designed with the involvement of the population and places regarding both the processes of technological change and the definition of new socio‐spatial models. Short This paper aims to contribute to the analysis of the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, focusing on the perceptions of changes and exploring new methods of analysis of the geography of opportunity and discontent. Based on Sentiment Analysis, the empirical analysis identifies both positive and negative opinions expressed by the people in the Web in Italy and in four medium‐sized cities (Pisa, Lecce, Taranto and Terni), showing the relevance of knowing the sentiment of the population for an in‐depth understanding of the phenomenon and for the definition of socio‐spatial policies.