Picking fights with politicians

Abstract In 2016 the UK held a divisive referendum on its membership of European Union. aftermath, difference and division were rife in politics everyday life. This article explores how such play out through interaction examining citizen ‘picking fight’ with politician over Brexit has been handled. Drawing categorisation analysis we show antagonism is interactionally accomplished. The focuses three categorial strategies which interlocutors use to achieve antagonism: establishing omnirelevant devices, categories their predicates; explicitly challenging category membership; partitioning population. Beyond offering insights into moments social life that are not easily captured, findings contribute an empirical conceptualisation illustrate can shed light interactional achievement.