This article proposes a decision model of the British support for leaving the European Union (EU) that includes both identity aspirations, attitudes towards the political system and economic interest and test it on the Understanding Society 6th, 7th and 8th surveys. Current studies tend to interpret the British Euroscepticism as a combination of attachment to British identity, lack of economic opportunities and dissatisfaction with the political class. Using this approach where factors are additive, it is not possible to account for the substantial portion of socio-economically advantaged individuals which prefer to leave the EU, and for those who, despite their low attachment to their British identity, the relatively high educational level and satisfaction with domestic democracy, prefer to leave the EU. I use a theoretical approach which considers both economic and cultural considerations as rational considerations and conceptualise their interaction in terms of trade off. I use classification tree analysis to evaluate the relative importance of the main explanatory factors and of their interaction. The results show that the negative evaluation of the political system makes certain groups, which otherwise tend to support European integration, lean towards Euroscepticism. It helps to explain the Euroscepticism of those who are less attached to their British identity and of advantaged classes. The results have also showed that anti-establishment attitudes are not associated with disadvantaged socio-economic groups. The dissatisfaction with domestic democracy is relevant mostly for the advantaged classes, and the lack of political efficacy affects equally the attitudes of advantaged and disadvantaged groups. Last, disadvantaged groups’ support for European integration is driven by identity aspirations not by economic interest.

中文翻译：

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离开还是不离开？了解对英国加入欧盟的支持：身份、对政治制度和社会经济地位的态度

本文提出了英国支持离开欧盟 (EU) 的决策模型，包括身份愿望、对政治制度的态度和经济利益，并在理解社会第 6、7 和 8 次调查中进行测试。目前的研究倾向于将英国的欧洲怀疑主义解释为对英国身份的依恋、缺乏经济机会和对政治阶层的不满。在因素相加的情况下使用这种方法，不可能解释愿意离开欧盟的社会经济优势个人的很大一部分，以及那些尽管对英国身份的依恋程度较低但教育水平相对较高的人并对国内民主感到满意，宁愿离开欧盟。我使用一种理论方法，将经济和文化考虑视为理性考虑，并根据权衡将它们的相互作用概念化。我使用分类树分析来评估主要解释因素及其相互作用的相对重要性。结果表明，对政治制度的负面评价使某些原本倾向于支持欧洲一体化的群体倾向于欧洲怀疑论。它有助于解释那些不太重视英国身份和优势阶级的人的欧洲怀疑主义。结果还表明，反建制态度与弱势社会经济群体无关。对国内民主的不满主要与优势阶级有关，政治效力的缺乏同样影响着优势群体和弱势群体的态度。最后，弱势群体对欧洲一体化的支持是由身份愿望而非经济利益驱动的。