Fuzzy frontiers? Testing the fluidity of national, partisan and Brexit identities in the aftermath of the 2016 referendum

Kenny, John, Heath, Anthony and Richards, Lindsay (2023) Fuzzy frontiers? Testing the fluidity of national, partisan and Brexit identities in the aftermath of the 2016 referendum. Political Studies, 71 (4). pp. 959-983. ISSN 0032-3217

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Abstract

British and English national identities have long been considered to have porous boundaries whereby English individuals consider the terms more or less interchangeable. However, there is no empirical evidence to demonstrate whether primary feelings of either Britishness or Englishness are highly fluid within-individuals or whether individuals are consistent in their perceptions of their British or English identity. This is especially relevant in the post-Brexit referendum context where national identity is highly correlated with Brexit attitudes. Using panel data, we demonstrate that there is a notable degree of fluidity between identifying as British or English. This is higher than the fluidity between other national identities in the UK as well as more fluid than moving between any partisan or EU referendum identities. Remainers are more fluid than Leavers in their Englishness, whereas they are similar in the fluidity of their Britishness.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	brexit,britishness,englishness,national identity,united kingdom
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	University of East Anglia Schools > Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	05 Oct 2021 01:20
Last Modified:	14 Oct 2023 00:50
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/81530
DOI:	10.1177/00323217211050001

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