The Politics of Feeling in Brexit Britain: Stories from the Mass Observation Project - Paperback

by Jonathan Moss (Author), Emily Robinson (Author), Jake Watts (Author)

During Brexit, political questions were continually framed in emotional terms. The referendum was presented as a conflict between reason and resentment, fear and hope, heads and hearts. The Leave vote was interpreted as the triumph of passion over rationality, and its aftermath triggered concerns about the divisive impact of feelings on political culture. This book examines how these stories about feelings shaped public experiences and determined political possibilities.

The politics of feeling uses first-hand accounts to explore how 'ordinary' people understand their own feelings about the referendum, and how they reacted to the feelings of others. It shows how they drew on public narratives, while also rejecting and reworking them. The authors highlight a dangerous contradiction whereby feelings were simultaneously understood as dangerous and illegitimate, and as an authentic reflection of our inner selves. This had its own political consequences.

Back Jacket

Interpreting Brexit as a contest between 'heads' and 'hearts' is both inaccurate and dangerous. This is not how most people made their decisions. Yet, this story became the dominant interpretation of the referendum. This had political consequences. It assigned 'thinking' and 'feeling' to separate political positions, doing a disservice to both. It presented feelings as simultaneously dangerous and 'authentic'. And it made political divisions seem so personal as to be irreconcilable.

The politics of feeling uses the first-hand accounts of 'ordinary' people to show the political power of such stories about Brexit. These narratives shaped the way people made sense of their own feelings, how they judged the feelings of others, and how they re-evaluated their relationships in the wake of the referendum. But the book also shows how inadequately these stories captured the complexity of their everyday experiences. They left little room for uncertainty, awkwardness, and exhaustion. By listening to the voices of people living through Brexit, The politics of feeling offers a fresh and nuanced account of political feelings, and the stories we tell about them.

Author Biography

Jonathan Moss is Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Sussex
Emily Robinson is Reader in British Studies at the University of Sussex
Jake Watts is an independent scholar