The Left Behind

Examines the ways in which the ‘Left Behind’ have been used to symbolise and foment social divisions in contemporary Britain. 'The Left Behind' is a defining motif of contemporary British political discourse. It is the thread that knits together the 2016 Brexit referendum, the crumbling of the fabled 'Red Wall' in the North, and the pernicious culture war being waged today. But who are the Left Behind?

James Morrison goes in search of the reality behind the rhetoric, offering the first comprehensive, historical analysis of the origins, uses and meanings of the term. He interrogates the popular archetype of the Left Behind – as a working-class, Leave-voting white male from a former industrial heartland – and situates the concept in the context of longstanding, demonizing discourses aimed at communities seen as backward and 'undeserving'.

Analyzing national newspaper coverage and parliamentary discussions, and drawing on interviews with MPs, community leaders, charities, and people with direct lived experiences of poverty and precarity, The Left Behind grapples with the real human cost of austerity for neglected post-industrial communities and other marginalized groups across the world, and the stigmatizing discourse that does little to serve them.

'Engaging […] tackles the stereotyping of so-called 'left behind' communities by journalistic and political opinion-formers, questioning how the most disadvantaged have been framed (or blamed) for delivering Brexit'
Dominic Wring, Professor of Political Communication at Loughborough University 'A sophisticated interrogation of how the 'left behind' are mythologised, problematised and weaponised by those whose insights rarely stretch beyond regional condescension and recycled tropes. Morrison deftly unpicks the left-behind imaginary and the culture wars, fantasies and resentments it feeds into – and sketches a powerful map for how to generate a more expansive, solidaristic imaginary'
Dr. Tracey Jensen, Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Lancaster University