The notion of « white working class » in British political discourse, fro

Abstract

Brexit has been considered as the vote of a « white working class » by a significant part of the media, politicians, and academics. This expression became rapidly mainstream despite its atypical construction. One can reflect upon this new rhetorical category, different from the traditional notion of “working class”, and is implicitly but clearly construed first and foremost in opposition to non-white workers, and not to the « bourgeoisie » or the middle-class. Brexit is also largely presented as the expression of strong Eurosceptic and anti-immigration opinions supposedly prevalent in the « white working class ». This paper aims at understanding how these assumptions about the « white working class » and its claims developed in British political discourse to the point of being a crucial topic during the Brexit discussions. The focus of this paper is a discursive analysis of the British traditional parties in power, in the context of what has been called a « white Vincent LATOUR2022-09-01T22:56:00VLbacklash », triggered by multiculturalism1. The period considered starts in 1997 with the election of New Labour on a multiculturalist agenda. The second term of Tony Blair in 2001 Vincent LATOUR2022-09-01T22:57:00VLwas a watershed moment, because it was then that he clearly turned against the previously multiculturalist agenda of his party. Since then, both the Labour and the Conservative parties have nurtured the theme of the « white working class »2 as left behind Vincent LATOUR2022-09-01T23:02:00VLby multiculturalism. This idea reached its pinnacle with Brexit in 2016, with lasting effects until 2019, when the Conservatives won by a landslide on an agenda focused on restoring the place of the « white working class ». This paper aims at showing the convergence of both parties around the rejection of multiculturalism and the defence of this newly construced section of the population, which led to the shift of British political discourse towards the right, with the promotion of the British identity as essentially « white ».