For much of the twentieth century, manufacturing sustained not only jobs, but also the collective life of the communities built around it. We study what happened when this economic and social infrastructure receded, combining harmonized census data with administrative records on income, elections, local amenities, and associations for more than 10,000 French municipalities between 1968 and 2016. We exploit differences in the timing and intensity of manufacturing decline across municipalities within the same department. Manufacturing decline led to persistent economic losses and demographic decline, including higher unemployment, lower incomes, slower population growth, aging, and out-migration. It also reshaped local political life: turnout declined, support shifted away from the left and, more recently, toward the far right. At the same time, local social infrastructure weakened. Association creation slowed, social isolation increased, and declining municipalities today host fewer amenities and meeting places. This social infrastructure mattered for political participation: where postwar church attendance was higher, turnout remained substantially more resilient despite similar economic losses.
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