Understanding the social and cultural bases of Brexit
In his lecture, Tak Wing Chan will use data from a large-scale and nationally representative survey to evaluate the public debate surrounding the outcome of the 2016 EU referendum vote.

Watch the lecture
Listen again
Since the 2016 EU Referendum, two narratives have been prominent in the public debate surrounding the outcome of the vote. The first narrative sees Brexit as a revolt of the ‘economically left-behinds’, while the second narrative attributes Brexit to the resurgence of an English nationalism.
In his lecture, Tak Wing Chan will use data from a large scale and nationally representative survey to evaluate these two narratives. He considers whether Brexit support is associated with neighbourhood deprivation, concentration of migrants, and exposure to the 'Chinese import shock'. He will also assess how social class, social status, low income, and expressions of Britishness and Englishness shape ‘Leave’ or ‘Remain’ sympathies.
The IOE Professorial Public Lecture series
Our series of professorial public lectures provides an opportunity to celebrate and share the expertise of our professors. Join the conversation on Twitter with #IOELectures and @IOE_London.
Each lecture is free and open to everyone - staff, students and members of the public.
Links
Tak Wing Chan's main research areas are social inequality and mobility, sociology of culture, and family demography. He is a deputy director of the UCL QStep Centre and has published papers on social mobility and wellbeing, family size and educational attainment, terrorist attack and labour market discrimination, among other topics.