Abstract
The PhD research project deals with the social change and coping strategies of individuals and society in rural areas, who are affected, in form of operational closure of the largest employer, by a variation of structural conditions (labour market, family structure, social community, education, middle class society in transformation, regional and structural development etc.). It addresses the impact of work-based insecurities, rising social inequalities within and across nations, with a specific regional focus on South Tyrol – a multicultural, rural area in northern Italy, bordering Austria and Switzerland.
It is a longitudinal sectional case study, which is carried out in the period from 2014 to 2016 in a valley in South Tyrol. Thirteen affected people, family members and experts will be accompanied and questioned about three different points of time by theme-centred interviews. The first interview session is finished, reflections for the case study and first outcomes of the project will be showed.