In Brexit's wake: the left behind and the politics of class.

Seminar summary

This seminar addresses the deployment of notions of 'class' in contemporary political discourse and, in particular, the notion of the 'left behind' in the months after the 2016 United Kingdom European Union Membership Referendum. As diverse political actors, journalists and commentators problematised the outcome of the vote, we explore Theresa May's particular contribution to the discourse, arguing that it marks a moment of break or rupture, not only in paving the way for the notion of 'levelling up' and associated reforms, but in the very idea of a particular class - as a collective agent - to be understood, acted upon and governed. We trace the conditions of possibility of May's problematisation of the left behind in the opening six months of her prime ministership, connecting her statements to a longer history of accounts of the emergence of the radical right in Europe. Notwithstanding May's self-conscious conservatism, we debate the continuing relevance of neoliberal - especially ordoliberal - discourse to recent political discourse in Britain.

How to attend this seminar

This seminar will take place online on Wednesday 21 June at 12pm.

It is free to attend with no need to register in advance.

Speaker bio

Dr Ed Barratt

Dr Ed. Barratt is a senior lecturer at Essex Business School. Recent work has addressed the relevance of Foucauldian notions of governmentality for organisation and management studies, and the ethics of public service - with a particular interest in British Civil Service reform. Now, finally, his work relates to the deployment of notions of 'class' as a collective agent to be governed, with a particular interest in the government of the 'left behind'. He has published in well-known journals, such as the Journal of Management Studies, Human Relations and Organization. He is especially proud of the reference to his work by the editor Michel Senellart, in his introduction to Michel Foucault's lecture series Society, Territory, Population (2007).