Saul, J. (2018) Immigration in the Brexit campaign : Protean dogwhistles and political manipulation. In: Fox, C. and Saunders, J., (eds.) Media Ethics, Free Speech, and the Requirements of Democracy. Routledge . ISBN 9781138571921
Abstract
In the aftermath of the Brexit vote, there has been much discussion of whether the vote was caused by anti-immigrant sentiment or by economic factors, or by some combination of these. Often, the anti-immigrant sentiment is referred to as “racism”, and quite often “anti-immigrant” and “racist” seem to be used interchangeably. It’s a notable feature of these discussions—though not one that is actually much noted—that the immigrants against whom prejudice is directed shift from discussion to discussion: some discussions focus on prejudice against all foreigners, some against all Europeans, others against Eastern Europeans, and still others against refugees, dark-skinned foreigners, or Muslims. A key contention of mine here is that the variety of possible targets for anti-immigrant sentiment (call this “target variation”) has made this form of prejudice a particularly difficult one to effectively fight. And key to this target variation is the invocation of ever-shifting associated groups that are the target of negative sentiment about immigrants—different groups for different speakers and audiences.
Metadata
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 Taylor & Francis. This is an author-produced version of a chapter subsequently published in Media Ethics, Free Speech, and the Requirements of Democracy. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (Sheffield) > Department of Philosophy (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 12 Jun 2020 09:54 |
Last Modified: | 18 Jun 2020 00:38 |
Published Version: | https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/978020370244... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Routledge |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203702444-2 |