‘No-one listens to us’: post-truth, affect and Brexit

The 2016 referendum result with a majority for Brexit came as a surprise to many in metropolitan centres. Deep divisions were exposed that appeared to have largely been hidden from those centres. In the wake of this, many explanations were put forward: perhaps most importantly, the notion of ‘post-truth’ gained a new prominence. The paper argues that post-truth could be said to depend upon notions of virality, contagion and harks back to founding work in social psychology relating to Le Bon’s work on crowds. In doing so, it concentrates on issues of class, especially in relation to affect and working-class voters. It does so by referring to a small funded study with two South Wales communities, exploring their views on and their demands and desires after Brexit. Considering the outcomes of that work leads to the discussion of the affective histories and practices of the communities involved and asks how we might research working class histories and practices in a non-pathologising way. The paper concludes with a discussion of some examples of approaches that provide suggestive ways forward for future research in this field