Imagined immigration: Did national newspapers influence how A8 and A2 immigration was perceived in the United Kingdom in 2004 and 2014?

Benjamin THOM

Master's thesis

Abstract:

An anxiety about immigration has been on the increase in the UK, as reflected by Nigel Farage, the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party- Ukip, declaring that "this country in a short space of time has frankly become unrecognisable." Whilst the migration of poor people to rich countries is "a phenomenon overloaded with toxic associations", it is true that a large number of migrants have arrived in the UK since the lifting of restrictions on the Accession 8 nations on 1st May 2004. What this thesis seeks to understand is the role that imagined immigration, and its 'toxic associations', may have played in the formulation of the EU immigration debate in the United Kingdom in 2004 and 2014. This paper draws inspiration from Scott Blinder's piece -Imagined Immigration- in which he writes that public opinion "is directed toward pictures in our heads of immigrants rather than immigration per se and, further, that these mental representations of immigrants may help determine attitudes toward immigration policy. In seeking to explore the concept of imagined immigration, two national newspapers which had different political outlooks in 2004 and 2014 will be analysed; The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian. The words these newspapers use, the number of articles they devote to immigration, and when these articles were published could reveal some interesting results as to how they chose to discuss, and scrutinise EU immigration from the new member states. This exercise will prove useful in clarifying one element which influences the shaping of imagined immigration within the minds of the British public, the role of the national media. This paper predicts that there was a relative lack of attention afforded to the 2004 A8 accession and its impacts by these newspapers; which was then compensated for with a greatly increased scrutiny of the 2014 A2 accession which contributed to a far more negative portrayal of EU immigration.

Abstract:

An anxiety about immigration has been on the increase in the UK, as reflected by Nigel Farage, the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party- Ukip, declaring that "this country in a short space of time has frankly become unrecognisable." Whilst the migration of poor people to rich countries is "a phenomenon overloaded with toxic associations", it is true that a large number of migrants have arrived in the UK since the lifting of restrictions on the Accession 8 nations on 1st May 2004. What this thesis seeks to understand is the role that imagined immigration, and its 'toxic associations', may have played in the formulation of the EU immigration debate in the United Kingdom in 2004 and 2014. This paper draws inspiration from Scott Blinder's piece -Imagined Immigration- in which he writes that public opinion "is directed toward pictures in our heads of immigrants rather than immigration per se and, further, that these mental representations of immigrants may help determine attitudes toward immigration policy. In seeking to explore the concept of imagined immigration, two national newspapers which had different political outlooks in 2004 and 2014 will be analysed; The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian. The words these newspapers use, the number of articles they devote to immigration, and when these articles were published could reveal some interesting results as to how they chose to discuss, and scrutinise EU immigration from the new member states. This exercise will prove useful in clarifying one element which influences the shaping of imagined immigration within the minds of the British public, the role of the national media. This paper predicts that there was a relative lack of attention afforded to the 2004 A8 accession and its impacts by these newspapers; which was then compensated for with a greatly increased scrutiny of the 2014 A2 accession which contributed to a far more negative portrayal of EU immigration.

Keywords

immigration, newspapers, perceptions, imagined, Ukip, UK, politics, socio-economic, anxiety, change, EU, freedom of movement

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 12. 5. 2015

Accessible from:: 12. 5. 2015

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: doc. Mgr. Antonín Kalous, Ph.D.

PALACKÝ UNIVERSITY IN OLOMOUC

Philosophical Faculty

Master programme / field:
Human Studies / Euroculture