Young people’s conceptions of English identity after Brexit: a Q Methodological study

Brexit was an epochal moment of political and cultural change for the UK and its four constituent nations. While extensive scholarship has examined the causes of Brexit and its political and economic ramifications, comparatively little attention has been paid to how the referendum and subsequent withdrawal from the European Union (EU) have impacted conceptualisations of English identity and its relationships to British and European identities, especially amongst young (18-30) English people. This paper utilises Q Methodology (QM), a mixed-methods research design, to uncover and analyse the prevailing conceptions of English identity that exist among 65 young (18-30) English people five years after the UK formally left the EU. Ten case studies representing the nine former EU Parliamentary Constituencies in England were included. The findings of this research produced three English identity archetypes: The Cosmopolitan Idealists, The Pragmatistic Britons, and The Cautious Anglo-British Sovereigntists. This paper also demonstrates the utility of employing QM in studies of national identity.