This collection of articles examines the factors that contributed to—as well as the aftermath and consequences of—the cultural, political and social upheavals that manifested as the two electoral convulsions of 2016: (1) the narrow victory for the Leave campaign in the UK’s referendum on EU membership, held in June and pejoratively known as ‘Brexit’; and (2) the election of the Republican billionaire Donald Trump over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the 45th President of the United States.
Both electoral results had been politically unimaginable in the months beforehand and have been experienced, on both sides of the North Atlantic, as politically tumultuous. Many in the media and the social sciences have characterized these two events as moments of crisis for liberal democracy, which some suggest has been found wanting in the face of a seemingly growing anti-immigrant, anti-globalisation populism.
In a world of Brexit and Trump—that is, in a world where what was previously unthinkable politically has become possible and where a radical-yet-reactionary populist insurgency may now seem in the ascendant—liberal Western nations have been working through the cultural, economic and political shockwaves. The consequences of this new age of politics—for citizens, institutions, democratic publics and their minorities throughout the West—are only just beginning to be understood, as are the political and social divisions that made these events possible.
How might Sociology—and the social sciences in general—explain, narrate and respond to these events? Both theoretical and empirical contributions are welcomed, from all branches of qualitative and quantitative sociology and allied cognate disciplines, along with those that draw on interdisciplinary perspectives.
Articles accepted for this collection will be published in a series of special sections of The Sociological Quarterly. Our aim is to publish the first of these in the Summer 2018 issue. Each article should conform to the journal’s guidelines on length and style and will be peer reviewed. Shorter pieces, such as commentaries and responses to individual articles, will also be considered. Topics articles might consider include:
Populism, Trump and the media
Post-industrial Societies and the ‘Left Behind’
Nationalism, Whiteness and the Politics of Protest
Class, Race and Brexit
Ethnographic and Historical Perspectives on Brexit and Trump
Each section, along with comments and responses, will be brought together in 2019 as a standalone, online special issue of The Sociological Quarterly.
This is a rolling collection and as such submissions/proposals will be welcome throughout 2017 and early 2018. However, full submissions received by 1st of December 2017 will be considered for publication as part of the collection’s formal launch.
Any queries about this special collection should be directed to the guest editor, Alexander Smith: [email protected].