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What we are learning about Britain on #BrexitDay -and why I am worried -a short thread
Since the referendum, we've had several bits of research which suggest that Britain is becoming more polarised and divided
Most recently, work by @NatCen and @whatukthinks has shown that our Brexit identities as Remainers or Leavers are strong, perhaps stronger even than our 'traditional' party political identities
Within this, we've also had a debate about which side -Remain or Leave- is most hostile toward the other. YouGov provided some evidence to suggest that things were not as evenly balanced as some might think
When I saw this, it reminded me of research in the US, which suggests that while many who lean left might think they are more open-minded than those on the right, liberals can be just as prejudiced against conservatives as conservatives are against liberals, if not more so
Here is a recent summary of some of that research
politico.com/magazine/story…
politico.com/magazine/story…
So with a political psychology colleague, we thought it would be interesting to look into this in a bit more detail, to see whether this applies to the UK, to explore how Remainers and Leavers think about each other
So we asked Remainers and Leavers a whole series of 'social distance' questions, about whether they would be willing or unwilling to enter into various relationships with members of the other tribe
For example, would you be willing or unwilling to have a Remainer/Leaver as an acquaintance?
Unsurprisingly, large majorities have no problem with this.
Interestingly, however, while 80% of Leavers would be willing, only 70% of Remainers feel the same way ...
Interestingly, however, while 80% of Leavers would be willing, only 70% of Remainers feel the same way ...
Then we asked about a slightly closer relationship. "Would you feel willing/unwilling to have a Remainer/Leaver as a co-worker?"
79% of Leavers would be willing, but only 67% of Remainers felt the same way
79% of Leavers would be willing, but only 67% of Remainers felt the same way
How about having a Remainer/Leaver as your next door neighbour?
78% of Leavers would be willing, but only 65% of Remainers would ...
78% of Leavers would be willing, but only 65% of Remainers would ...
How about an even closer relationship - how about having a Remainer/Leaver as friend?
80% of Leavers would, but only 61% of Remainers feel the same way ...
80% of Leavers would, but only 61% of Remainers feel the same way ...
OK final step - how about having a Remainer or Leaver as the romantic partner of your child?
75% of Leavers would be willing, but only 53% of Remainers feel the same way ...
75% of Leavers would be willing, but only 53% of Remainers feel the same way ...
Another way of looking at this is to ask Remainers and Leavers to give the other side a rating on a 0-10 thermometer scale
Which looks like this
Which looks like this
So, what we don't know is exactly why this is taking place, why Remainers seem more distant than Leavers and what might alleviate this polarisation, which is the next phase of our project (as we have some ideas)
This is from a project with political psychologist Aleksandra Cichocka bit.ly/2Yz6Hg4 & @PolPsychKent (<- worth following), which has been supported by @UniKent funding /more soon
