The class politics of prejudice: Brexit and the land of no‐hope and glory

Abstract

The debates relating to social class and whether it is still a useful concept in describing a lived reality of the British population has never been far away from media, political and academic dispute. Thatcher's Britain throughout the 1980s attempted to dilute class meaning with what was called ‘a home owning democracy’ and thus end class collective politics through easily available credit for the working class while simultaneously attacking trade union organization, recruitment and political action.During the late 1990s and into the noughties a ‘New Labour’ administration attempted to exacerbate the end of class politics through an agenda of a ‘cultural distinction’ to class identity. Class struggle, class politics and class identity is embedded deep within the cultural norms practices, and history of British democracy. Consequently it is difficult if not impossible to prise class inequality in the UK away from and out of national, local and personal politics (Savage et al. 2015: 393–8). This paper focuses upon the sense that class politics, and cultural class distinction, within the UK had the biggest influence in determining a working‐class ‘Leave Vote’ in the 2016 referendum within the UK. This paper explores accounts and narratives from working‐class ‘leave’ voters though an ethnographic study of the political and social viewpoints of working‐class communities of East London, and of ex‐mining towns of Nottinghamshire. Framing into fuller context the anger and apathy of being ‘left out’, arguing that being ‘left out’ has been part of working‐class political narratives for over 30 years. Going beyond frustration and apathy, a significant part of the narrative of working people was of ‘not existing’, suggesting certain important linkages with ongoing debates about new ways of conceptualizing class differences and class structures.

Sticking Together in ‘Divided Britain’: Talking Brexit in Everyday Family Relationships

“…Many such studies seek to understand the Leave vote. For example, Mckenzie's (2017a) ethnographic exploration of working class Leave voters emphasises community and the embedding of class inequality in the Brexit vote. Patel and Connelly's (2019) analysis of the narratives of Salford Leave voters offers a geographically situated account of the 'subtle and seemingly non-racial ways in which xeno-racialised narratives underpin the accounts of Leave voters' (2019: 980).…”

“…Benson (2020) similarly emphasises the processual nature of Brexit through her analysis of the ebbs and flows of the insecurities experienced by Britons living in France and the ways they interact with pre-existing inequalities. Benson and Lewis (2019), in their analysis of the experiences of British people of colour living in the EU, also emphasise continuity over narratives of disruption; demonstrating that Brexit is an unexceptional continuation of everyday, structural and institutional racism that, in ways similar to Mckenzie's (2017a) identification of ongoing class discrimination, was part of participants' everyday lives before Brexit.…”

“They don’t know what it’s like to be at the bottom”: Exploring the role of perceived cultural distance in less‐educated citizens’ discontent with politicians

“…Studies have for instance addressed dissatisfaction with politics (Jennings et al., 2016 ; Kemmers et al, 2015 ), populist attitudes and voting for populist parties (Gidron & Hall, 2017 , 2019 ), and political distrust (Hakhverdian & Mayne, 2012 ; van der Meer, 2010 ). Recently, the British Journal of Sociology has dedicated a special issue to scrutinizing the “radically unexpected” (Dodd et al., 2017 , p. S3) events of the “leave” result in the Brexit referendum (Bhambra, 2017 ; Mckenzie, 2017 ) and the electoral victory of Donald Trump in 2016 (Bhambra, 2017 ; Bobo, 2017 ; Lamont et al., 2017 ; McCall & Orloff, 2017 ; McQuarrie, 2017 ), both of which laid bare the deep‐seated discontent with politics among substantial sections of the population. These events highlight the urgency of achieving a sociological understanding of political discontent among “groups who [feel] marginalized, undermined and unrepresented by formal political forces” (Dodd et al., 2017 , p. S6).…”

“…The perceived remoteness of those in high‐status positions in the eye of the lower social strata that these studies hint at has been shown to foster feelings of alienation, exclusion, and inferiority, as well as discontent and resentment (cf. Cramer, 2016 ; Jarness & Flemmen, 2019 ; Lamont, 2000 ; Mckenzie, 2017 ; Williams, 2017 ). This feeds what Lamont ( 2018 , 2019 ) has called the “recognition gap” and resonates with the literature on feelings of status anxiety and misrecognition among individuals who feel socially subordinated (Gidron & Hall, 2017 , 2019 ), such as less‐educated citizens (van Noord et al., 2019 ; Sandel, 2020 ; Spruyt et al., 2015 , 2018 ; Spruyt & Kuppens, 2015 ).…”

Investing ourselves: the role of space and place in being a working-class female academic

“…There has also been an unprecedented rise in destitution in England that is 'clustered mainly in northern cities with a history of deindustrialisation' (Fitzpatrick et al, 2018, p. 2). Cities like Hull, that are struggling, that are labelled as 'left behind', also offer a convenient scapegoat for discourses that emphasise a deep-seated malevolence to working class cultures (McKenzie, 2017). The implications of living in a supposed 'left behind' city like Hull rather than a world city like London, can result in limited access to alternative discourses of opportunity and lifestyles.…”