The first part of this project argues that the threat of automation has led to more hostile attitudes toward globalization. Drawing on a nationally representative survey and a survey experiment in the United States, I find that respondents experiencing higher anxiety due to automation are more likely to displace blame for harmful changes in the labor market toward outgroups and away from technology. Most people believe that technology enhances our lives, makes the world better off, and should develop unabated. Hesitant to halt innovation, individuals opt to buffer domestic workers from technological threats with substitute policies — immigration and trade restrictions — that they believe could improve national wages and employment prospects. With robots increasingly displacing labor, people want to stop outgroups — immigrants and foreign workers — from further dividing the pie. Thus, automation anxiety may have evoked individuals' protectionist instincts, intensified attempts to resist globalization, and contributed to the revival of radical politics.

But not all workers are equally anxious about automation. The second part of the project shows that institutions — existing labor arrangements — can lead to different levels of technological receptiveness for workers who face similar threats of automation. In China, the household registration system creates a stratified labor market that favors local workers and discriminates against non-local workers. Drawing on interviews, original surveys, and factory visits conducted in 19 cities in China, I find that local workers, who are better protected by local labor regulations, are more worried about job automation than non-local workers. The undesirability of non-local workers' circumstances make their jobs less painful to lose and easier to substitute, leading to lower technological anxiety. Ironically, the greater legal protection afforded to local workers makes them more expensive to hire, less competitive than non-local workers with the same skills, and more anxious about automation. Labor market institutions influence workers' expectations and the availability of exit options comparable to their status quo. These results imply that opposition toward technology is more likely to originate from workers in relatively privileged positions (e.g. union members) if they do not expect to be able to transition to comparable jobs after a layoff.

Overall, this work contributes to a deeper understanding of the politics of technological change and opposition to globalization. Research on the political effects of job automation will likely become more pertinent as policymakers, business leaders, and workers confront the challenges, opportunities, and dilemmas brought by the new wave of technological advancement. I have secured partial funding to replicate the study in Japan and Germany for this comparative book project.

One of the chapters, "Misattributed Blame? Attitudes Toward Globalization in the Age of Automation", was the winner of the Peace Science Society (International) Award at the 2018 Pacific International Politics Conference.