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Rebordering Britain & Britons after Brexit

Mapping social science research on Brexit and migration

95 articles published 2021

Migrant labour in the UK's post-Brexit agri-food system: Ambiguities, contradictions and precarities
Pressure from global retailers to reduce food costs has altered downstream agri-food work regimes, with many food producers having adopted more flexible modes of working and employed migrant labour from lower income countries. Since the expansion of the European Union (EU) in 2004…
Mitigating the hostile environment: the role of the workplace in EU migrant experience of Brexit
The rejection of free movement embodied in the 2016 Referendum vote created tremendous uncertainty regarding the immediate and future legal rights of EU nationals living in the UK. Drawing on interviews with EU staff and management at three universities…
Mobility for Me but Not for Others: The Contradictory Cosmopolitan Practices of Contemporary White British Youth
This article seeks to problematise the perception that young people are committed cosmopolitans by highlighting some of the contradictory and contingent practices that young White British youth engage in. To do so…
Moral Expressions in 280 Characters or Less: An Analysis of Politician Tweets Following the 2016 Brexit Referendum Vote
Ideas about morality are deeply entrenched into political opinions. This article examines the online communication of British parliamentarians from May 2017-December 2019, following the 2016 referendum that resulted in Britain's exit (Brexit) from the European Union.
Moral regulation and a good moral panic: UK Polish migrant workers and the 2016 EU Referendum
The UK 2016 EU Referendum has introduced a period of uncertainty for both the indigenous population and for non-British citizens. This uncertainty is considered within a framework of the recent revisions in the sociology of moral panics through an analysis of interviews with Polish migrant workers.
Nursing emigration in the United Kingdom: A qualitative exploration of the Spanish nursing community
Aim: To understand and describe the experiences and perceptions of migrant Spanish nurses working in the UK. Design: Online survey with open-ended questions. Methods: A total of 371 participants were recruited from online groups related to Spanish nurses working in the UK. Results:
On Europe, Immigration and Inequality: Brexit as a 'Wicked Problem'
In this paper I attempt a novel interpretation of Brexit as a `wicked problem'. Wicked problems are those which are unique and complex, full of internal contradictions, and defy solution, instead only creating other problems. After reviewing the lead-up to the 2016 Brexit referendum…
Perceptions, experiences and accommodations of Britishness; an exploration of national identity amongst young British Sikhs and Hindus in London
This paper is centred on exploring how young people from Sikh and Hindu backgrounds, who are British born and living in the London area understand Britishness. By utilising transcripted interviews from eighty respondents…
Polish migrant settlement without political integration in the United Kingdom and Ireland: a comparative analysis in the context of Brexit and thin European citizenship
Following EU enlargement in 2004, the United Kingdom and Ireland experienced large-scale migration from Poland and other new EU states.
Postimperial Melancholia and Brexit
The lead-up to and the aftermath of the 2016 referendum on the United King-dom's membership in the European Union have been characterized by particular psychic reactions and affective states: shock, perplexity, anxiety, guilt, paranoia, anger, depression, delusion, and manic elation.
Recognising British Bodies: The Significance of Race and Whiteness in `Post-Racial' Britain
This article examines the significance of race in how nation is articulated by the white middle-classes in `post-racial' Britain. In doing so…
Rethinking unity in diversity: the potential of European identity in rapidly diversifying societies
Europe seems deeply divided due to recent crises such as the EURO crisis and the Brexit. Moreover, the EU seems unable to entice its citizens and the construction of a shared European identity seems more distant than ever. Yet, in this paper…
Reverting trajectories? UKIP's organisational and discursive change after the Brexit referendum
The article focuses on the transformation of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) after the 2016 Brexit referendum. It describes how, after securing its chief political demand…
Revisiting the golden age: Brexit, migration and the rhetoric of national identity
The Brexit referendum of 23 June 2016 put in motion a series of complex negotiations resulting in inevitable impasses, some of which have not been resolved even now that the UK is finally out of the EU (most palpably the so-called Northern Irish Protocol). While debates are still ongoing…
Rural Brexit? The ambivalent politics of rural community, migration and dependency
This paper investigates the relationship between rural space and Brexit.
Speaking for 'our precious Union': unionist claims in the time of Brexit, 2016-20
Brexit and its implications pose the latest challenge to the Union as a political project and to unionism as the doctrine of state legitimacy. How did key unionist actors articulate the legitimizing foundations of the Union in the critical period 2016-20?
State of normality: Transnational migrants' shifting views of state institutions and their obligations
The power of nationalism is evident in how people perceive the world around them as `normal'. A national normality is constituted through education and media but also in everyday encounters with the state or state-regulated institutions in the fields of education, welfare provisions, medical care…
Subversive citizens: using EU free movement law to bypass the UK's rules on marriage migration
In 2012, new and restrictive spousal reunification laws were implemented in the UK. EU free movement rules, however, have enabled British citizens to circumvent those restrictions by residing for a period in another Member State, and then returning with their family member to the UK.
Switzerland-EU relations: Lessons for the UK after brexit?
This book offers an up-to-date assessment of the state of Switzerland-EU relations with the aim of drawing lessons from the Swiss experience to shed light on the challenges facing the UK post-Brexit and, more broadly, on how non-member states can adapt to "integration without membership".
Temporal clustering of hate crimes in the aftermath of the Brexit vote and terrorist attacks: A comparison of Scotland and England and Wales
This study examines the temporal clustering of hate crimes in Scotland, England and Wales in the wake of the Brexit vote and the 2017 terrorist attacks. Using an interrupted time-series design…
Temporalities of Emergent Axiomatic Violence in Brexit Scotland
Following an acrimonious referendum on European Union membership, the UK was plunged into chaos as people attempted to negotiate a deeply divided domestic political landscape. In Scotland, things were further complicated by the independence question and the Scottish National Party's (SNP)…
The changing status of European Union nationals in the United Kingdom following Brexit: The lived experience of the European Union Settlement Scheme
Following Brexit, European Union citizens now find their rights to live and work in the UK have changed and they had to make an application under the European Union Settlement Scheme, established under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement…
The complex social security provisions of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, to be implemented for decades
This article analyses the provisions in the withdrawal agreement regarding the coordination of the social security schemes of the United Kingdom and the Member States after Brexit. The UK's withdrawal from the EU raises numerous questions about the consequences for the social security rights…
The contradictions of islandness: The small island of St Helena and the emotions of transnationalism
This paper investigates the emotions of transnationalism, when coming from the small, remote British Overseas Territory of St Helena. This paper captures how St Helenian islanders migrate for new opportunities and to escape island monotony. Even though dispersed…
The dark side of onward migration: Experiences and strategies of Italian-Bangladeshis in the UK at the time of the post-Brexit referendum
Drawing on multisited qualitative research in Italy and the UK, this paper documents the dark side of onward migration and the experiences faced by Italian-Bangladeshis in the UK after the Brexit referendum. The findings show that compared to their position in Italy…
The EU Referendum and Experiences and Fear of Ethnic and Racial Harassment: Variation Across Individuals and Communities in England
This paper uses nationally representative, longitudinal data to examine experiences and fear of ethnic and racial harassment in public spaces among minorities in the UK, comparing levels of both before and after the 2016 EU Referendum.
The hostile environment, Brexit, and `reactive-' or `protective transnationalism'
The `reactive transnationalism hypothesis' posits a relationship between discrimination and transnational practice. The concept has generally been studied using quantitative methods, but a qualitative approach augments our understanding of two context-specific dimensions:
The impact of Brexit on international students' return intentions
This paper studies the causal impact of Brexit on the post-graduation mobility decisions of EU students in the UK. We exploit the British government's formal withdrawal notification under Article 50 as a natural experiment.
The 'Person of Northern Ireland': A Vestigial Form of EU Citizenship?
Northern Ireland - United Kingdom - Republic of Ireland - Divergent development of Irish and British nationality law - Citizenship of the European Union - Good Friday Agreement - Brexit - Emma DeSouza - Family unity as a source of constitutional conflict - Reverse discrimination - Cross-border…
The politics of embedding and the right to remain in post-Brexit Britain
The European Union membership referendum (i.e. the Brexit referendum) in the United Kingdom in 2016 triggered a process of introspection among non-British European Union citizens with respect to their right to remain in the United Kingdom, including their right to entry, permanent residence…
The promise and resilience of multilingualism: language ideologies and practices of Polish-speaking migrants in the UK post the Brexit vote
This article aims to examine how sociopolitical changes impact language ideology and linguistic practices within transnational multilingual families with a particular focus on families with ties to Poland in post-EU-referendum Britain.
The UK's hostile environment: Deputising immigration control
In 2012, Home Secretary Theresa May told a newspaper that she wanted to create a `really hostile environment' for irregular migrants in the UK. Although the phrase has since mutated to refer to generalised state-led marginalisation of immigrants…
Thinking Europe otherwise: Lessons from the Caribbean
In the twenty-first century, Europe’s remaining 34 colonies in the Caribbean, the Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean are graphically represented as part of the EU in official maps, yet play no part in the definition of either the normative European ideal or the corresponding common identity.
Towards a win-win package deal and more effective decision-making in a union faced with disruptive change
In order to mitigate its ‘poly-crisis’ of the past decade, the European Union (EU) and its member states have made considerable progress in affected policy areas so that it now seems better prepared for future crises. However…
Try before you buy: a small business employer (SME) perspective of international student mobility in England
Attracting international students has become a strategic priority for UK immigration policy as well as for British universities. However…
Uncanny Europe and Protective Europeanness: When European Identity Becomes a Queerly Viable Option
Europe has recently become closely associated with LGBTQ rights. It remains unclear, however, what is the role of this association in everyday European imaginations and identifications. Empirical research on European identity hardly ever discusses the role of LGBTQ rights.