Abstract
This article uniquely demonstrates how UK debates about supporting child refugees during the “refugee crisis” came to be used as support for leaving the European Union (EU). The research question “how did users of a news website respond to a report about the UK government's decision to allow child refugees into the UK?” is addressed with a rigorous discursive analysis of an internet discussion forum on the anti-immigrant website MailOnline consisting of 2,014 unique posts, with a reach of 30 million viewers. Analysis demonstrated that (1) child refugees were presented as adults, (2) allowing in refugees was presented as a “burden” on taxpayers, (3) the decision was presented as opposed to the public's will, and (4) this was used as a warrant for leaving the EU. The significant implication of this analysis is that political attempts at associating the refugee crisis with the EU may have been successful in this context.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1161-1172 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | European Journal of Social Psychology |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| Early online date | 15 Feb 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Oct 2019 |
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Keywords
- Brexit
- discourse analysis
- European Union
- migrant crisis
- migrants
- refugee crisis
- refugees
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
Cite this
“Sad day for the UK” : The linking of debates about settling refugee children in the UK with Brexit on an anti-immigrant news website. / Goodman, Simon; Narang, Amrita.
In: European Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 49, No. 6, 01.10.2019, p. 1161-1172.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
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TY - JOUR
T1 - “Sad day for the UK”
T2 - The linking of debates about settling refugee children in the UK with Brexit on an anti-immigrant news website
AU - Goodman, Simon
AU - Narang, Amrita
PY - 2019/10/1
Y1 - 2019/10/1
N2 - This article uniquely demonstrates how UK debates about supporting child refugees during the “refugee crisis” came to be used as support for leaving the European Union (EU). The research question “how did users of a news website respond to a report about the UK government's decision to allow child refugees into the UK?” is addressed with a rigorous discursive analysis of an internet discussion forum on the anti-immigrant website MailOnline consisting of 2,014 unique posts, with a reach of 30 million viewers. Analysis demonstrated that (1) child refugees were presented as adults, (2) allowing in refugees was presented as a “burden” on taxpayers, (3) the decision was presented as opposed to the public's will, and (4) this was used as a warrant for leaving the EU. The significant implication of this analysis is that political attempts at associating the refugee crisis with the EU may have been successful in this context.
AB - This article uniquely demonstrates how UK debates about supporting child refugees during the “refugee crisis” came to be used as support for leaving the European Union (EU). The research question “how did users of a news website respond to a report about the UK government's decision to allow child refugees into the UK?” is addressed with a rigorous discursive analysis of an internet discussion forum on the anti-immigrant website MailOnline consisting of 2,014 unique posts, with a reach of 30 million viewers. Analysis demonstrated that (1) child refugees were presented as adults, (2) allowing in refugees was presented as a “burden” on taxpayers, (3) the decision was presented as opposed to the public's will, and (4) this was used as a warrant for leaving the EU. The significant implication of this analysis is that political attempts at associating the refugee crisis with the EU may have been successful in this context.
KW - Brexit
KW - discourse analysis
KW - European Union
KW - migrant crisis
KW - migrants
KW - refugee crisis
KW - refugees
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85064591225&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/ejsp.2579
DO - 10.1002/ejsp.2579
M3 - Article
VL - 49
SP - 1161
EP - 1172
JO - European Journal of Social Psychology
JF - European Journal of Social Psychology
SN - 0046-2772
IS - 6
ER -