Understanding the social and cultural bases of Brexit

Publication type

Journal Article

Authors

Publication date

October 24, 2020

Summary:

We use data from a large scale and nationally representative survey to evaluate two narratives about the social bases of Brexit. The first narrative sees Brexit as a revolt of the economically left‐behinds. The second narrative attributes Brexit to the resurgence of an English nationalism. There is some, albeit not always consistent, evidence that people in relative poverty or those living in areas that have seen greater Chinese import penetration are slightly more pro‐Leave. People living in economically deprived neighborhoods are not more pro‐Brexit. Using the Weberian class–status distinction, it is social status, not social class, which stratifies Brexit support. Individuals for whom being British is important are more pro‐Leave. But those who see themselves as British rather than English, and those reporting omnivorous cultural consumption are less supportive of Brexit. Overall, there is empirical support for both narratives. But the weight of the evidence suggests a strong cultural dimension in Brexit support.

Published in

British Journal of Sociology

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12790

Subjects

Notes

Open Access

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial‐NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non‐commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Online Early

© 2020 The Authors. The British Journal of Sociology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of London School of Economics and Political Science

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• Understanding the social and cultural bases of Brexit

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  2. Morag Henderson
  3. Maria Sironi
  4. Juta Kawalerowicz

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