Voting for Your Pocketbook, but against Your Pocketbook? A Study of Brexit at the Local Level

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2317495
AutoresKira Gartzou-Katsouyanni (0000-0003-4162-3995, London School of Economics and Political Science, autor de correspondencia), Max Kiefel (0000-0002-6039-1395, London School of Economics and Political Science), Javier José Olivas Osuna (0000-0002-9877-8480, London School of Economics and Political Science)
Año2022
Volumen50
Número1
Páginas3-43
Fecha de publicación2022-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPolitics & Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0032-3292 • E-ISSN: 1552-7514
EditorialSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0032329221992198
OpenAlexW3133772371
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas11
Referencias citadas24

In explaining the outcome of the 2016 EU referendum in the United Kingdom, can theories emphasizing the importance of economic factors be reconciled with the fact that many people appeared to vote against their economic self-interest? This article approaches this puzzle through case study research that draws on fieldwork and a process of reciprocal knowledge exchange with local communities in five local authorities in England and Wales. It argues that the Leave vote can be attributed partly to political discontent associated with trajectories of relative economic decline and deindustrialization. Building on the growing literature about the role of narratives and discourses in navigating uncertainty, it contends that these localized economic experiences, interpreted through local-level narratives, paved the way for local-level discourses of resilience and nationwide optimistic messaging about the economic impacts of Brexit to resonate. Local and national-level discourses discounting the potential economic costs of leaving the European Union played a crucial role in giving precise, somewhat paradoxical, political content to the sense of discontent. The article contributes to the growing focus on place and community in understanding political behavior and invites further research on local discourses linking macro-level trajectories and micro-level voting decisions

Brexit · Deindustrialization · Referendum · Political and Economic history of UK and US