Economic decline

Does economic decline motivate support for Brexit, and populism more broadly? This question relates to levels of measurement (aggregate or individual), to the causal relationship to other attitudes, for example, about immigration, and to the need to better understand people’s perceptions about decline, rather than assuming perceptions follow objectively gathered data. 

Our research shows that economic decline perceptions importantly relate to groups and places; to the gains or losses of racial groups (or ‘out-groups’) and to metropolitan areas compared to local communities. 

We are exploring the different inferences we draw about these effects when using different levels and types of measurement, and - with researchers from the University of Southampton - the degree to which survey respondents recognise localised decline, what predicts this, and what is predicted by this.