City Research Online

Abstract

Recent shifts in political support to populist parties worldwide have been linked to the changing preferences of ‘left-behind communities’. On the basis of apparently growing ‘left behind’ support for populists, some commentators have argued for policy changes including tightened immigration rules, coupled with increasing investment in economically deprived areas, particularly in healthcare. However, ‘left behind’ communities’ policy preferences are unclear from existing research, due to a series of methodological challenges associated with researching polarization and stigmatization. We complement existing research with an innovative photo elicitation methodology covering five field sites in the UK during 2019, focusing on left behind communities’ policy preferences concerning ‘Brexit’. Photo elicitation overcomes methodological challenges associated with emotional attachment and stigmatization. Drawing on interviews with 489 participants, we find that interviewees rejected elite framings suggesting a logical link between Brexit and healthcare investment, instead articulating policy preferences for healthcare investment drawing on personal experiences.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Political Science Association. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform J Political Science > JA Political science (General) J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) > JN101 Great Britain
Departments:	The City Law School > Academic Programmes The City Law School > Institute for the Study of European Laws
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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