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Chapter 5. Construing the Other

On the ideology-laden construals of Europeans in the Guardian
  • Przemysław Wilk
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Representing the Other in European Media Discourses
This chapter is in the book Representing the Other in European Media Discourses

Abstract

The chapter focuses on the discursive operation of othering as underlying ideological practice in representing Europeans in the British daily the Guardian. The research takes its underpinnings from the cognitive linguistics and critical discourse analysis frameworks. The concept of othering has been operationalized in terms of Langacker’s conception of construal and van Dijk’s theory of ideology reproduction in discourse. The chapter focuses on two ideology-laden construals of Europeans whose aim is to establish a discursive Us – Them polarization. It is claimed that construing the citizens of the EU as east/eastern or central Europeans is ideology-driven. The chapter presents the findings of a study of 400 instances of the lexical item Europeans, which amounts to the total corpus occurrence of this lexical item in an approximately 930,000 word corpus of news articles retrieved from the Guardian between May 2004 and December 2009.

Abstract

The chapter focuses on the discursive operation of othering as underlying ideological practice in representing Europeans in the British daily the Guardian. The research takes its underpinnings from the cognitive linguistics and critical discourse analysis frameworks. The concept of othering has been operationalized in terms of Langacker’s conception of construal and van Dijk’s theory of ideology reproduction in discourse. The chapter focuses on two ideology-laden construals of Europeans whose aim is to establish a discursive Us – Them polarization. It is claimed that construing the citizens of the EU as east/eastern or central Europeans is ideology-driven. The chapter presents the findings of a study of 400 instances of the lexical item Europeans, which amounts to the total corpus occurrence of this lexical item in an approximately 930,000 word corpus of news articles retrieved from the Guardian between May 2004 and December 2009.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Media representations of the “other” Europeans 1
  4. Part I. Othering as political and media practice
  5. Chapter 1. Orbán’s Hungary 25
  6. Chapter 2. Togetherness or othering? 55
  7. Chapter 3. The European “stranger” in Le Monde ’s headline discourse 81
  8. Chapter 4. Profiling of new Europeans in the British conservative press 103
  9. Chapter 5. Construing the Other 121
  10. Chapter 6. Discursive legitimation of criminalization and victimization of sub-Saharan immigrants in Spanish El País and ABC newspapers 135
  11. Part II. Othering as interpersonal and interactional practice
  12. Chapter 7. Negotiating an identity 157
  13. Chapter 8. Representations of Eastern Europeans in the UK in reader comments of two British online newspapers 183
  14. Chapter 9. Othering others 207
  15. Chapter 10. The othering of Roma migrants in British and Czech online news discussion forums 235
  16. Chapter 11. The Roma as ultimate European minority and ultimate outsider? 259
  17. Chapter 12. Othering in Estonian online discussions about refugees 281
  18. Contributors 305
  19. Index 309
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.74.06wil

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Media representations of the “other” Europeans 1
  4. Part I. Othering as political and media practice
  5. Chapter 1. Orbán’s Hungary 25
  6. Chapter 2. Togetherness or othering? 55
  7. Chapter 3. The European “stranger” in Le Monde ’s headline discourse 81
  8. Chapter 4. Profiling of new Europeans in the British conservative press 103
  9. Chapter 5. Construing the Other 121
  10. Chapter 6. Discursive legitimation of criminalization and victimization of sub-Saharan immigrants in Spanish El País and ABC newspapers 135
  11. Part II. Othering as interpersonal and interactional practice
  12. Chapter 7. Negotiating an identity 157
  13. Chapter 8. Representations of Eastern Europeans in the UK in reader comments of two British online newspapers 183
  14. Chapter 9. Othering others 207
  15. Chapter 10. The othering of Roma migrants in British and Czech online news discussion forums 235
  16. Chapter 11. The Roma as ultimate European minority and ultimate outsider? 259
  17. Chapter 12. Othering in Estonian online discussions about refugees 281
  18. Contributors 305
  19. Index 309
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