Identification, the exercise of democracy and the fear of the Other - the June EU referendum in the UK
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2987160 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Manuchehr Sanadjian (independent scholar, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 110-124 |
| Publication date | 2019-03-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Identities (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1350-4630 • E-ISSN: 1363-0296 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13504630.2017.1331899 |
| OpenAlex | W2618195251 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 5 |
The focus is the oscillation among leave voters in the EU referendum from the exercise of rights - an act of dis-identification – towards the assertion of identity as members of a British community. This was mediated by voters acting in an association of citizens calling on the equalising agency of the British people whilst claiming membership of a locally circumscribed community, perceived as injured, through entanglement with the Other prominent among them Europeans. Hence the recovery of the injured community as the object of the denunciators’ desire for identity coupled with the fear of the Other. Predicated on this was the resumption of class, gender and ethnic roles reflected in division among voters. The denunciation of togetherness with Europeans served leave voters to substitute the exercise of rights with a longing for identity. Instrumental in this was the lack of deliberation in the plebiscite to articulate the will of individual voters through a general will. The ‘direct power’ exercised enabled many to cast away their role as citizen in an attempt to claim their privileges as members of a racially and culturally demarcated British community. Paradoxically, the voters’ unashamed disavowal of their agency as citizens by seeking to restore a divided social world as the source of their identity was represented as an exercise in democracy. To some playing on words was supplemented by the use of force removing the gap between the discursive exclusion of the Other and the continued physical presence of bearers of different races and culture
Aesthetics · Democracy · Denunciation · Political science · Politics · Referendum · Social science · Sociology · Gender Studies · Law · Romani and Gypsy Studies
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,14 |
| Citation span | 2019 - 2019 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |