Brexit, Relationships and Everyday Family Life

This research aims to explore how Brexit has been experienced within everyday personal relationships, particularly family relationships. The idea that, following Brexit, the UK is a 'divided' nation, characterised by deep divisions between 'remainers' and 'leavers' has been emphasised in the British media over the past few years. However, despite the prevalence of these ideas, we understand very little about how these so called divisions are lived and experienced in people's everyday personal relationships, particularly within families where generational divisions are likely to be keenly felt. Therefore, the research addresses questions concerning how Brexit, and the political debates and events that have surrounded it, have affected people's everyday relationships, how so called 'divisions' -for example between 'remainers' and 'leavers' and 'millenials' and 'baby boomers' - have been experienced in people's everyday relationships, how people's political orientations and attitudes are influenced by their past and present personal relationships and how seemingly mundane interactions, identities, relationships and biographies can shape people's experiences of and orientations towards Brexit.

It is difficult to access detailed and in-depth understandings of mundane and everyday aspects of family life using standard interviews with participants, who may find it difficult to recall and articulate these aspects of their lives. Similarly, it is difficult to employ methods that involve 'hanging out' with families for prolonged periods of time. This project proposes to overcome these issues by drawing upon an innovative toolkit of creative methods that will be used with a group of up to ten families over the period of one year. Families will be recruited from areas in and around Manchester and Sheffield and will have a diverse range of backgrounds. A prolonged engagement with a small number of families will enable an understanding of the everyday ways in which Brexit affects people's lives and relationships over time and the recruitment of family groups, as well as other important associates, will help to understand the complexities of the role of relationships in shaping people's political orientations. Participants will choose from a range of methods. These include individual and family interviews designed to gain a sense of participants' political opinions; memory tasks to help to understand how people's early political memories impact upon their orientations towards Brexit and observations and 'hanging out' with families to access mundane, everyday interactions. Participants may also take part in an observed television watching session based on Channel Four's 'Gogglebox' programme in order to see how conversations might arise around the viewing of political programming. Some participants may also get involved in 'mapping' the networks that matter to them and keeping diaries of their interactions about politics. This will help to understand the role of other associates in shaping people's political views and experiences.

In bringing together these various methods, the project will gain an in-depth, fine-grained understanding of the ways in which Brexit is experienced in everyday life. These understandings will contribute an insight into how political outlooks and orientations may manifest in families, how they may be passed on and perpetuated between generations as well as contested over time, which can help academics to understand more about the role of politics in personal relationships as well as helping practitioners working in local organisations striving to encourage civic engagement and community cohesion to understand how political orientations manifest. Furthermore, the innovatie methods employed by the project will help researchers both within and beyond academia to conduct research that is able to capture the complexities of everyday life.

The research will be of interest to three key groups of non-academic users:
1. Non-academic researchers, particularly in third and public sector organisations
2. Organisations and practitioners working to enhance community cohesion and civic engagement
3. The wider public

Users will benefit from the research in the following ways:
1. There is a growing need amongst non-academic researchers for affordable, up-to-date methods training in innovative and creative approaches that can be accomplished within tight timeframes. Findings from the methods innovations in this project will be used to help to train non-academic researchers, particularly from third and public sector organisations, in ways of applying these methods to their own work.
2. Findings from the project will be used to help practitioners and organisations working to encourage civic engagement and community cohesion to understand how political views and orientations are formed, perpetuated and contested in families. This understanding will help these organisations to produce effective policies and inititatives when working with individuals, groups and communities post-Brexit.
3. The wider public will benefit from an opportunity to think differently about the role of Brexit in their everyday family lives and to get involved in conversations about this. Findings from the project and opportunities to engage in innovative and fun activities will help members of the public to reflect critically about the role of Brexit in their personal lives.

The following activities will be undertaken to ensure users have the opportunities to benefit from the research:
1. Non-academic researchers will be invited to join the project's Advisory Group. A training event for non-academic researchers will be held and a series of online methods training materials including toolkits, podcasts and videos will be created and disseminated amongst non-academic researchers through existing networks.
2. Representatives from non-academic organisations will be invited to join the project's Advisory Group. A series of 'key ideas' sheets based on findings from the project will be launched and disseminated amongst organisations and practitioners working in areas of civic engagement and community participation.
3. Findings from the research will be disseminated through a general press release and specific pieces pitched to Guardian Family Supplement, Guardian Society, The Conversation and Radio 4's Thinking Allowed. A mini-participatory exhibition will be established in 2 public shopping centres in Manchester and Sheffield. The exhibition will feature findings from the project and the centre piece will be a 'talking politics' video recording booth, in the style of a passport photo booth, where people will be invited to record messages and respond to fun questions about Brexit politics, derived from themes arising in fieldwork.