Abstract
United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) supporters and non-voters in England participate respectively in forms of engaged and disengaged anti-political activity, but the role of individual, group-based, and collective emotions is still unclear. Drawing upon recent analyses of the complex emotional dynamics (e.g., <em>ressentiment</em>) underpinning the growth of right-wing populist political movements and support for parties such as UKIP, this analysis explores the affective features of reactionary political stances. The framework of affective practices is used to show how resentful affects are created, facilitated, and transformed in sharing or suppressing populist political views and practices; that is, populism is evident not only in the prevalence and influence of illiberal and anti-elite discourses but also should be explored as it is embodied and enacted in “past focused” and “change resistant” everyday actions and in relation to opportunities that “sediment” affect-laden political positions and identities. Reflexive thematic analysis of data from qualitative interviews with UKIP voters and non-voters (who both supported leaving the EU) in 2015 after the UK election but before the EU referendum vote showed that many participants: 1) shared “condensed” complaints about politics and enacted resentment towards politicians who did not listen to them, 2) oriented towards shameful and purportedly shameless racism about migrants, and 3) appeared to struggle with shame and humiliation attributed to the EU in a complex combination of transvaluation of the UK and freedom of movement, a nostalgic need for restoration of national pride, and endorsement of leaving the EU as a form of “change backwards.”
Highlights
A widely accepted view of populism as a “thin ideol‐ ogy” (Mudde & Kaltwasser, 2017) emphasises a central distinction between “the people” and “the elite” which does not map in a simple way onto established right and left ideologies or a common political programme (Taylor et al, 2020)
As out‐ lined below, the themes identified in the combined post‐ 2015 election interviews were: 1) sharing “condensed” complaints and expanding upon grievances about poli‐ tics, including distrust, and enacting resentment about not being listened to; 2) orienting towards shameful and pur‐ ported shameless racism related to the new “righteous victim” identity; and 3) transvaluation, nostalgia, and change backwards
Given that many non‐voters expressed a dislike for all political parties and elites because they did not listen to them and did not care about them, there were points of commonality with United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) voters in terms of how they accounted for their opposition to migrants and free movement within the European Union
Summary
A widely accepted view of populism as a “thin ideol‐ ogy” (Mudde & Kaltwasser, 2017) emphasises a central distinction between “the people” and “the elite” which does not map in a simple way onto established right and left ideologies or a common political programme (Taylor et al, 2020). A focus on a reactionary “complex political orientation” provides a new perspec‐ tive on such populist political behaviour as support‐ ing the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) or voting for Brexit, because it highlights a critical moti‐ vational role for “resentful affectivity [combined] with the forceful desire to return to the past” For example, the Leave campaign repeatedly used the mes‐ sage “Take back control” as part of a reactionary “depic‐ tion of a stalled present and a future that is compro‐ mised by the unstoppable changes imposed by elites on the country against its will” For example, the Leave campaign repeatedly used the mes‐ sage “Take back control” as part of a reactionary “depic‐ tion of a stalled present and a future that is compro‐ mised by the unstoppable changes imposed by elites on the country against its will” (Capelos & Katsanidou, 2018, p. 1284)
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