Brexit

Description

A study of the implications of the UK’s projected withdrawal from the EU

Soon after the UK referendum in June 2016, sociologists and other social scientists began to evaluate the implications of the decision both for the UK and, more importantly, for the European Union, Europe and the world. Some of these consequences were immediately evident. The vote revealed cleavages across the UK on a regional and class basis, paralleled, for example, in the support in France for the extreme-right Front National versus the Socialist Party. In the UK, there has been a revival of a kind of class politics, in which working-class voters swing right rather than left. The regional divisions are hard to explain: the most deprived areas of the UK, which have benefited substantially from EU development aid, were often those most hostile to UK membership of the EU.

In the rest of Europe, the vote has opened up as a serious prospect what was previously only a pipe-dream of the political fringes: withdrawal from the EU itself. Although one can put this in the context of the Union’s failure to attract the support of enough voters in Norway and Switzerland for membership, the shock effect is incomparably greater. The UK was always a semi-detached member state, with opt-outs from Schengen and the euro, but it still carried substantial weight in the formation of EU policy. Although one of the immediate responses has been a rise in support for the EU across much of Europe, Brexit has massively strengthened the forces of (mostly right-wing) populist insurgent politics, adding withdrawal to the more local themes of migration and ‘islamization’ which play out in different variations across Europe.

Brexit aims to trace the implications of the UK’s projected withdrawal from the EU, locating short-term political fluctuations in a broader historical and social context of the transformation of European and global society. It provides a forum for leading Eurosociologists (broadly defined), working inside and outside the UK, to rethink their analyses of the European project and its prospects, as well as to reflect on the likely implications for the UK.

Preface by William Outhwaite; Section 1. How Did It Happen? 1. The Increasing Inevitability of That Referendum - Martin Westlake; 2. Vox Populi: Nationalism, Globalization and the Balance of Power in the Making of Brexit - Jonathan Hearn; 3. Exit from the Perspective of Entry - John Holmwood; 4. Brexit, Sovereignty and the End of an Ever Closer Union - Stefan Auer; Section 2. The Politics of Brexit; 5. Populism, Nationalism and Brexit - Craig Calhoun; 6. A Tale of Two Constitutions: Whose Legitimacy? Whose Crisis? - Chris Thornhill; 7. Locating Brexit in the Pragmatics of Race, Citizenship and Empire - Gurminder K. Bhambra; 8. Globalization, Nationalism and the Changing Axes of Political Identity - Colin Crouch; 9. A Divided Nation in a Divided Europe: Emerging Cleavages and the Crisis of European Integration - Gerard Delanty; Section 3. Prospects For/ After Brexit; 10. The EU and Brexit: Processes, Perspectives and Prospects - Tim Oliver; 11. The Impossibility of Disentangling Integration - Antje Wiener; 12. No Exit from Brexit? - Simon Susen; 13. Critical Theory, Brexit and the Vicissitudes of Political Economy in the Twenty- First Century - Harry F. Dahms; 14. European Union versus European Society: Sociologists on ‘Brexit’ and the ‘Failure’ of Europeanization - Adrian Favell; Notes on Contributors; Index.

Sujets

• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Social theory
• Social sciences
• World
• European

Informations

• Publié par: Anthem Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781783086474
• Langue: English

Extrait

Brexit
KEY ISSUES IN MODERN SOCIOLOGY
Key Issues in Modern Sociology series publishes scholarly texts that give an accessible exposition of the major structural changes in modern societies. These volumes address an academic audience through their relevance and scholarly quality and connect sociological thought to public issues. The series covers both substantive and theoretical topics as well as addresses the works of major modern sociologists. The series emphasis is on modern developments in sociology with relevance to contemporary issues such as globalization, warfare, citizenship, human rights, environmental crises, demographic change, religion, postsecularism and civil conflict.
Series Editor
Peter Kivisto – Augustana College, USA
Editorial Board
Harry F. Dahms – University of Tennessee at Knoxville, USA
Thomas Faist – Bielefeld University, Germany
Anne Rawls – Bentley University, USA
Giuseppe Sciortino – University of Trento, Italy
Sirpa Wrende – University of Helsinki, Finland
Richard York – University of Oregon, USA
Brexit
Sociological Responses
Edited by William Outhwaite
Anthem Press

An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company

www.anthempress.com

This edition first published in UK and USA 2017

by ANTHEM PRESS

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or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK
and
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© 2017 William Outhwaite editorial matter and selection;

individual chapters © individual contributors

The moral right of the authors has been asserted.

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record for this book has been requested.

ISBN-13: 978-1-78308-644-3 (Hbk)
ISBN-10: 1-78308-644-0 (Hbk)
ISBN-13: 978-1-78308-645-0 (Pbk)
ISBN-10: 1-78308-645-9 (Pbk)

This title is also available as an e-book.
CONTENTS
Preface William Outhwaite
Section 1. HOW DID IT HAPPEN? Chapter One The Increasing Inevitability of That Referendum Martin Westlake Chapter Two Vox Populi: Nationalism, Globalization and the Balance of Power in the Making of Brexit Jonathan Hearn Chapter Three Exit from the Perspective of Entry John Holmwood Chapter Four Brexit, Sovereignty and the End of an Ever Closer Union Stefan Auer
Section 2. THE POLITICS OF BREXIT Chapter Five Populism, Nationalism and Brexit Craig Calhoun Chapter Six A Tale of Two Constitutions: Whose Legitimacy? Whose Crisis? Chris Thornhill Chapter Seven Locating Brexit in the Pragmatics of Race, Citizenship and Empire Gurminder K. Bhambra Chapter Eight Globalization, Nationalism and the Changing Axes of Political Identity Colin Crouch Chapter Nine A Divided Nation in a Divided Europe: Emerging Cleavages and the Crisis of European Integration Gerard Delanty
Section 3. PROSPECTS FOR/AFTER BREXIT Chapter Ten The EU and Brexit: Processes, Perspectives and Prospects Tim Oliver Chapter Eleven The Impossibility of Disentangling Integration Antje Wiener Chapter Twelve No Exit from Brexit? Simon Susen Chapter Thirteen Critical Theory, Brexit and the Vicissitudes of Political Economy in the Twenty-First Century Harry F. Dahms Chapter Fourteen European Union versus European Society: Sociologists on ‘Brexit’ and the ‘Failure’ of Europeanization Adrian Favell
Notes on Contributors
Index
PREFACE
William Outhwaite
Less than six months after the United Kingdom referendum , sociologists and other social scientists are evaluating the implications both for the UK, or whatever remains of it, and, more importantly, for the European Union and for Europe and the world.
Some of these are already evident. The vote has revealed cleavages across the UK on a regional and class basis, paralleled, for example, in the support in France for the Front National . In the UK, we have seen the revival of a kind of class politics, in which working-class voters swing Right rather than Left, reinforcing the middle-class ‘leave’ vote in much of the richer south of England . The regional divisions are hard to explain: the most deprived areas of the UK, which have benefited substantially from EU development aid, were often those most hostile to membership in the EU .
In the rest of Europe , the vote has opened up as a serious prospect what was previously only a pipe dream of the political fringes: withdrawal from the EU itself. Although one can put this in the context of the Union’s failure to attract the support of enough voters in Norway and Switzerland for membership, the shock effect is incomparably greater. The UK was always a semi-detached member state , with opt-outs from Schengen and the euro , but it still carried substantial weight in the formation of EU policy . Even if the vote had gone the other way, however, the UK had already trashed what remained of its reputation as a serious member of the Union. Although one of the immediate responses has been a rise in support for the EU across much of Europe, Brexit has massively strengthened the forces of (mostly right-wing) populist insurgent politics, adding withdrawal to the more local themes of migration and ‘Islamization’ that play out in different variations across Europe. In the UK, even before the vote, the campaign produced a wave of what, since it was the result of the government’s decision to call a referendum , might reasonably be described as state-sponsored hate crime , which has so far cost the lives of a British Member of Parliament and a Polish resident.
This book aims to trace these implications, locating short-term political fluctuations in a broader historical and social context of the transformation of European and global society . It provides a forum for leading Eurosociologists (broadly defined), working inside and outside the UK itself, to rethink their analyses of the European project and its prospects as well as to reflect on the likely implications for what, as Timothy Garton Ash pointed out in a Guardian article, we may come to know as the former UK (FUK).
Ever since Theda Skocpol’s call in the 1980s for ‘bringing the state back in’, 1 it has been conventional to distinguish between ‘state-centred’ and ‘society -centred’ explanations of social and political events. This book inevitably moves between both perspectives or emphases. The referendum can be explained in the short term as an attempt to fix an internal problem in the ruling Conservative Party and the challenge it faced from the right and from the poisonous racial politics that affect the UK and many other member states, and in the long term by at least half a century, if not many centuries, of an ambivalent relation to the rest of Europe . The result, similarly, was in one sense clear less than 24 hours after the polls had opened, although its legal validity remains uncertain as we go to press, and in another sense opens up an area of uncertainty that is likely to continue for at least two and probably more like twenty years.
It can be viewed in essentially three ways: as a much-needed warning to the EU to reform itself in one way or another (as Stefan Auer argues here), as a virus that threatens to weaken the Union’s viability and perhaps to be the first domino to fall in its dissolution, or as a possible source of reinforcement of attachment to the EU, as Antje Wiener and Tim Oliver suggest, once the UK ’s or the FUK’s fate outside becomes clearer and the dead weight of its long-standing resistance to integration is removed.
This book covers all these dimensions, focusing on the deep-seated social origins in the UK and the rest of Europe of an event that surprised almost everyone some time between 3:00 and 4:00 a.m. on 24 June 2016. As we go to press, its likely consequences range from a declaration that the process was legally flawed and requires a further ratification, which might or might not be forthcoming, to a post-Brexit future that could take a variety of forms and turn out more or less satisfactorily or disastrously for the UK and the rest of Europe.
Unlike the vote, which was evenly split, our view of Brexit is predominantly negative. A cynic might expect this of a cosmopolitan group of social scientists, many of us working in a country where a third of sociological research is currently funded by the EU. We hope, however, that this book will show the value of the sort of sober analysis that was marginalized, to a quite remarkable degree, in the debates before and after the referendum .
Having taken up Chris Rojek’s suggestion to edit a book on Brexit , I am immensely grateful to the friends and colleagues who have come together here, after a mere six weeks instead of the more usual minimum of six months, despite other commitments and, in many cases, vicissitudes of health and relocation.

Note
1 Theda Skocpol, ‘Bringing the State Back In’, in Bringing the State Back In , edited by P. Evans (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 3–37.
Section 1
HOW D