Work

Narrating Experiences of the Brexit Divide: Empathy, Tolerance and Avoidance

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: It is widely contended that after the Brexit referendum, the labels of ‘Leaver’ and ‘Remainer’ became dominant political categories, polarising UK society and restricting people’s ability to understand or deliberate with the political other. However, in this article, I show that when narrating experiences of the ‘micro-realities’ of everyday life, voters on both sides of the alleged Brexit divide make situated (inter)personal decisions, and employ different social practices – empathy, tolerance and avoidance – to navigate and resist socio-political division. Focusing on participant narratives, gathered through qualitative, guided interviews, I illuminate the ways in which core components of affective polarisation, notably ‘in-group’ bias and ‘out-group’ prejudice, are generally weaker in these narratives, and in the experiences of everyday life, than currently assumed by macro-structural and quantitative research on Brexit, while empathy and agreement across the Brexit divide is commonplace.

Source: The Sociological Review

DOI: 10.1177/00380261261465972

Author: Mark Anthony Kaye

Institution: University of Portsmouth

Language: English

Topic: Electoral Systems and Political Participation

Subfield: Political Science and International Relations

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,900