Explaining Brexit: The 5 A’s - Anomie, Alienation, Austerity, Authoritarianism and Atavism

Although support for Britain’s withdrawal in the 2016 Referendum emanated from all sections of society, it was much stronger and prevalent among specific socio-economic and demographic cohorts, namely older citizens, people who had received a minimal formal education in their youth, and those on low incomes. These were the citizens who had benefited the least, and whose communities had suffered the most, from four decades of deindustrialisation, globalisation, neoliberalism, and apparent neglect or abandonment by politicians in Westminster and the London-centric national media. Leave voters (Brexiters) were also notable for the extent to which they shared five social, cultural and political attitudes, characteristics or experiences, all beginning with the letter ‘a’: anomie, alienation, austerity, authoritarianism and atavism. Only by examining these five aspects can we fully comprehend the fears, frustrations, grievances and resentments which underpinned support for Leave in Britain’s 2016 EU Referendum, and why these characteristics were very strongly concentrated in specific sections of British society.