Constructions of ‘the Polish’ in northern England: Findings from a qualitative interview study
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Gibson, Stephen
Abstract / Description
The enlargement of the European Union in 2004 gave rise to moral panics concerning the likelihood of mass migration from the new eastern European member states to established member states in the west. A great deal of social and political science research has examined the ongoing impact of the enlargement, but there remains a gap in the literature regarding the ways in which members of ‘receiving’ populations reacted to these changes. The present paper reports findings from a qualitative interview study of 14-16 year-olds conducted in northern England. It focuses on how migrants from one particular country – Poland – were constructed by participants. Drawing on previous analyses of immigration and racist discourse, the study points to some ways in which Polish migrants and migration were constructed, and how complaints against ‘the Polish’ were formulated. The analysis focusses on four key issues: employment and the economy; language and culture; threat and intimidation; and physical stereotyping. It is suggested that constructions of ‘the Polish’ draw on the tropes of both ‘old’ and ‘new’ racism, and that attention to the use of deixical ingroup referents (‘us’, ‘we’, ‘our’) in contrast to the explicit labelling of the outgroup (‘the Polish’) can be understood in terms of the requirement to present complaints concerning migrant groups via appeals to assumed universal standards of behaviour and civility.
Keyword(s)
citizenship discourse analysis immigration Polish migration prejudice racism rhetorical psychologyPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2015-10-26
Journal title
Journal of Social and Political Psychology
Volume
3
Issue
2
Page numbers
43–62
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Gibson, S. (2015). Constructions of ‘the Polish’ in northern England: Findings from a qualitative interview study. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 3(2), 43–62. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v3i2.414
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Gibson, Stephen
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2018-11-26T12:45:47Z
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Made available on2018-11-26T12:45:47Z
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Date of first publication2015-10-26
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Abstract / DescriptionThe enlargement of the European Union in 2004 gave rise to moral panics concerning the likelihood of mass migration from the new eastern European member states to established member states in the west. A great deal of social and political science research has examined the ongoing impact of the enlargement, but there remains a gap in the literature regarding the ways in which members of ‘receiving’ populations reacted to these changes. The present paper reports findings from a qualitative interview study of 14-16 year-olds conducted in northern England. It focuses on how migrants from one particular country – Poland – were constructed by participants. Drawing on previous analyses of immigration and racist discourse, the study points to some ways in which Polish migrants and migration were constructed, and how complaints against ‘the Polish’ were formulated. The analysis focusses on four key issues: employment and the economy; language and culture; threat and intimidation; and physical stereotyping. It is suggested that constructions of ‘the Polish’ draw on the tropes of both ‘old’ and ‘new’ racism, and that attention to the use of deixical ingroup referents (‘us’, ‘we’, ‘our’) in contrast to the explicit labelling of the outgroup (‘the Polish’) can be understood in terms of the requirement to present complaints concerning migrant groups via appeals to assumed universal standards of behaviour and civility.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationGibson, S. (2015). Constructions of ‘the Polish’ in northern England: Findings from a qualitative interview study. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 3(2), 43–62. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v3i2.414en_US
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ISSN2195-3325
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1383
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1830
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v3i2.414
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Keyword(s)citizenshipen_US
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Keyword(s)discourse analysisen_US
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Keyword(s)immigrationen_US
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Keyword(s)Polish migrationen_US
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Keyword(s)prejudiceen_US
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Keyword(s)racismen_US
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Keyword(s)rhetorical psychologyen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleConstructions of ‘the Polish’ in northern England: Findings from a qualitative interview studyen_US
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DRO typearticle
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Issue2
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Journal titleJournal of Social and Political Psychology
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Page numbers43–62
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Volume3
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Visible tag(s)Version of Record