a good article explaining why we can't agree
https://inews.co.uk/news/brexit-why-remain-leave-cant-agree-political-sociologist/With Brexit polarising the nation far more dramatically than traditional party politics ever has, it’s hardly surprising we’ve been dubbed the “Disunited Kingdom“. But what is it about Brexit that has created such deep divisions – and why do so many people, Remainers and Leavers, stubbornly refuse to acknowledge each others’ concerns and attempt to find some common ground? Political sociologist Paula Surridge, a senior lecturer at the University of Bristol, says Brexit taps into deeply held beliefs about the world, what we value and what we think society should be like. People who voted to quit the EU are unlikely to abandon their deeply held convictions just because the process of exiting the bloc is proving rather more grueling than any prominent Leave campaigner would have liked to admit prior to the referendum. Equally, those who voted to stay will almost certainly not be won over by the insistence of Leavers that a second referendum must not take place as the “will of the people” must be fulfilled. It’s rare that a day goes by without a business leader announcing their firm is relocating elsewhere in the world, or warnings being issued about the implosion of the NHS. Despite the bad news stories that continually pour in, few Leavers appear to have changed their minds since casting their vote in June 2016. “Why would they?” says Surridge. “What’s changed in anybody’s life since the referendum that would lead them to change their position?” Sticking to our guns Another reason that you’d still be hard pressed to convince people in either camp to switch sides is that humans excel at justifying the decisions they have already made. “If you’ve made a decision and then you hear its contentious you’re going to hold onto it all that more strongly. You’re going to rationalise it because you want to believe you were right to make that choice in the first place,” Surridge says. This type of mass rationalisation can often be observed after a General Election, she notes. “You’ll see somebody cast a vote and then their assessment of policies and what’s going on [in that party or with that MP] will improve – because they’ve cast that vote. “People align their assessments and their feelings about the world with decisions they’ve made.” Surely stories about stockpiling food and medicine, speculation about price rises and the prospect of chaos at our ports might give some pause for thought? Perhaps not. “If you’re a Leave voter you’ve heard those warnings for three years but you’re life hasn’t changed necessarily,” Surridge points out. “Why would you believe them any more now than you did at the time of the 2016 campaign?” “Until somebody actually goes to the chemist and can’t get the medicine they need, why are they going to believe those stories?” Not only is it perceived as merely “talk”, Surridge says, “it’s talk from people they don’t trust in the first place.” The same applies to Remainers who steadfastly refuse to accept any counter arguments from Leave campaigners that such predictions are more to do with scaremongering and playing politics than they are based in reality. Whichever side of the divide you stand on, you are unlikely to be persuaded by arguments to the contrary when they are being made by people whose opinions you have for years held in contempt. Public vitriol reflects behaviour in Parliament What’s more, it should hardly be surprising if things get ugly between families, friends and strangers online when you consider the cacophony of yelling, jeering and braying the House of Commons descends into with such frequency. “If that’s how our politicians are behaving in Parliament, why do we expect the public who voted for them to behave any differently?” says Surridge. “Why do we expect voters to be willing to compromise when our politicians clearly aren’t?” Until politicians of all stripes in the UK take meaningful steps to end the combative, belligerent and downright hostile behaviour we have come to expect in Parliament, it seems that the wider public will replicate this approach – and who can blame us?
Lucille Grant ● 2841d34 Comments ● 2836d