Brexitland

Identity, Diversity and the Reshaping of British Politics

De: Maria Sobolewska, Robert Ford

Narrado por: Jennifer M. Dixon

Long-term social and demographic changes - and the conflicts they create - continue to transform British politics. In this accessible and authoritative book, Sobolewska and Ford show how deep the roots of this polarization and volatility run, drawing out decades of educational expansion and rising ethnic diversity as key drivers in the emergence of new divides within the British electorate over immigration, identity, and diversity. They argue that choices made by political parties from the New Labour era onwards have mobilized these divisions into politics, first through conflicts over immigration, then through conflicts over the European Union, culminating in the 2016 EU referendum. Providing a comprehensive and far-reaching view of a country in turmoil, Brexitland explains how and why this happened, for students, researchers, and anyone who wants to better understand the remarkable political times in which we live.

©2020 Maria Sobolewska and Robert Ford (P)2021 Tantor

It's like Marmite, but not as salty.

I think I learned some things about British politics listening to this. Maybe. I definitely have a lower opinion about the educated class in Britain. And I learned that a "school leaver" is a kind of identity, but it isn't pejorative- but it sure does come across as condescending the way the authors use it. It really means HS grad, but imagine being called by your snooty aunt a school-leaver and you get the idea. Another issue I encountered early on is the casual and repeated use of "ethnocentric" to describe post-ww2 Brits, like my grandparents. Their fault was being too white, too working class, too uneducated, and just plain dumb to be anything other than ethnocentrically British. Actually, thank goodness they are dead because they would now have to bear the brunt of being "racist" on top of all that. Just disturbing. Anyhow, the authors- a husband and wife academic duo- scientifically prove that Brexit is symptomatic of the rise of the idiocracy and will lead to unending turmoil and chaos. Or, this is a book about identity politics in the UK for people who are steeped in identity politics in the UK but like their information rather dry. Not worth it.