The first study that shows how the combination of cultural history and contemporary politics produced a Brexit result that was completely predictable.


The Brexit vote continues to be a source of debate and anxiety in Britain. More than ten years on from the referendum, it is possible to see how commentaries before the vote and in its aftermath were flawed by naivete and unawareness as well as ingrained bias that reached across the political divide and into the media. When contemporary opinions are coupled with cultural history, the result of the referendum was completely predictable.

This book also illuminates how the responses to the referendum result confirmed a long distrust that many had felt. Populist arguments were of little consequence by comparison to decades of lived experience that had formed an abiding scepticism in the government and the media. Critically, Brexit did not just expose a divide in society concerning EU membership but unmasked a significant disconnect between politicians, the media and the public.

Cultural Dissonance is a unique study of politicians, journalists, writers and academics that shows the path to the referendum and how the responses to the vote reemphasized the reasons for those who chose to leave the EU. Viewed in context, Brexit was not a surprise.