Today I return to a subject that I have discussed before,
that of Emotions in Politics, with some of my previous posts on this subject
here and here. However I am interested today in how it impacts the
strongest political issue of our times, namely Brexit.
When I floated the provisional idea for this post on
twitter, another user thought it would be dangerous to cast people who feel one
thing and hence vote based on that one way or another as being Type A or Type B,
which is a fair enough objection. My hypothesis is, that if people vote to cut
themselves off from one group of people (whether or not it will therefore be
easier to work closer with other groups of people) I am interested in whether
or not this may have a link to self-esteem.
I’ve been thinking about self-esteem as lot as a mother of a
young daughter, I am concerned about the latest reports that up to 1 in 4
teenage girls are depressed, given their own responses to a survey recently. So
it is on my mind. My question would be (if indeed this information does not
already exist) – to what extent does internally generated self-esteem influence
one’s need to change things like supranational trade agreements.
It sounds absurd, but people make politics and politics
makes supranational trade agreements. However, I am interested in the politics
that drove the appeal of “Take Back Control” and I’m wondering if it’s because
the people felt particularly out of control. What’s interesting about the Brexit
vote is that it assembled a coalition of people in areas that feel “left behind”
where one might feel that one is not “in control” of one’s circumstances –
justifiably so in some cases no doubt, but also folded into that coalition vast
areas of the south with older people that were doing well but may not have that
much tertiary education, with education being one of the major drivers that seems to have decided someone’s Brexit
vote. If, perhaps your status (what others think of you) is founded on things
that can change such as wealth rather than on internally driven self-esteem
that can be more of a product of education, then perhaps someone might feel
more out of control? It’s hard to really make predictions, and possibly dangerous
as my interlocutor seemed to think this morning, however, can be worthwhile too
– I would be interested in any data or evidence around these lines.
With Bill Clinton’s memorable phrasing in our minds
“Underneath all these debates that are going on today lingers one
simple
question... whether you believe social strength, economic reform
and political reform flow from division
or multiplication."
How can we win people to the cause of multiplication in the
future – perhaps it is mostly about looking at what they think of themselves?
Did you see what Jo Swinson said in her speech? There was some research around people who voted for Trump and what they felt around whether children should be considerate or well behaved. Those who said considerate were more likely to have voted for Clinton, well behaved for Trump. It's a real liberal/authoritarian thing that works for Brexit too.
ReplyDeleteYes - it's a good point and that research is popping up all over the place....
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