The Greek public discourse on immigration: The merchants of conditional humanism

Μελετώντας την Ελλάδα της Κρίσης Ι: Ρατσισμός – Ξενοφοβία - Συνωμοσιολογία
PDF
Published: May 10, 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/sas.15592
Keywords:
fear refugees/immigrants politics of fear risk society security
Stamatis Nikitas Poulakidakos
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Abstract

Theoretically stemming from the notions of risk society and the politics of fear, this paper seeks to address issues related to the representations of immigrants in Greece through the public discourse, as it appears in the sites of two mainstream Greek daily newspapers. We examine specific parameters of the discourse related to refugees/immigrants (provision -or not- of asylum or other civil rights, provision -or not- of humanitarian aid, effects of migrant/refugees on public finance, on public health and social life of host communities, and their influence to the culture of the host societies). Quantitative content analysis of the statements on the conditional provision of humanitarian aid to the refugees/immigrants documented an overall representation of immigrants mainly as poor, uprooted, marginal, desperate and therefore somehow inferior to the members of the host societies and as ”risks” that needs to be managed.

Article Details
  • Section
  • Articles
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  • Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License that allows others to share the work, not for commercial purposes, with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
  • Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Author Biography
Stamatis Nikitas Poulakidakos, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Laboratory Teaching Staff, Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
References
Abrahamsen, R. (2005). Blair's Africa: The Politics of Securitization and Fear. Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, 30(1), pp. 55-80.
Abrahamsen, R. (2017). Africa and International Relations: Assembling Africa, Studying the World. African Affairs, 116(142), pp. 125-139.
Angeli, D., Dimitriadi, A. and Triandafyllidou, A. (2014). "Evaluating the cost-effectiveness of the irregular migration control policies in Greece". Athens: Midas.
Alipranti-Maratou, L. (2007). Migration to Greece: A New Type and Emerging Problems. In Close, E., Tsianikas, M. and Couvalis, G. eds., "Greek Research in Australia: Proceedings of the Sixth Biennial International Conference of Greek Studies, Flinders University June 2005", Adelaide: Flinders University Department of Languages - Modern Greek, pp. 185-198.
Altheide, D. L. (2006). Terrorism and the Politics of Fear. Oxford: AltaMira Press.
Antonopoulos, G. A., Tierney, J. and Webster, C. (2008). 'Police perception of migration and migrants in Greece'. European Journal of Crime Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, 16(4), pp. 353-378.
Barker, M. (1981). The New Racism: Conservatives and the Ideology of the Tribe. London: Junction Books.
Barker, V. (2012). Global Mobility and Penal Order: Criminalizing Migration, A View from Europe. Sociology Compass, 6(2), pp. 113-121.
Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Bauman, Z. (2004). Europe An Unfinished Adventure. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Bauman, Z. (2005). Work, Consumerism and the New Poor. 2nd ed. Berkshire: Open University Press.
Bauman, Z. and Lyon, D. (2013). Liquid Surveillance. A Conversation. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Beck, U. (1992). Risk Society: Towards a new Modernity. Sage: London.
Beck, U. (2006). Living in the world risk society. Economy and Society, 35(3), pp. 329-345.
Berelson, B. (1952). Content Analysis in Communication Research. New York: Free Press.
Berelson, B. (1971). Content Analysis in Communication Research. New York: Hafner Publishing Company.
Chomsky, N. (2005). The resort to fear.Ontario: ColdType.
Collett, E. (2016). ‘The Paradox of the EU-Turkey Refugee Deal’. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/paradox-eu-turkey-refugee-deal. Accessed on December 28 2017.
Dalakoglou, D. (2013). ‘From the Bottom of the Aegean Sea to Golden Dawn: Security, Xenophobia, and the Politics of Hate in Greece. Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, 13(3), pp. 514-522.
Dimitrakopoulou, F. (2012). The factor of religion in the integration of immigrants. The case of Europe's Muslims. Migration Quarterly, Volume 4, pp. 5-9.
Ellinas, A. (2013). The rise of the Golden Dawn: The new face of the far-right in Greece. South European Society and Politics, 18(4), pp. 543-565.
EASO (2017). Latest asylum trends – May 2017. European Asylum Support Office Report.
Featherstone, K. (2011). The Greek Sovereign Debt Crisis and EMU: A Failing State in a Skewed Regime. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 49(2), pp. 193-217.
Furedi, F. (2002). Culture of Fear. Revised edition. London: Continuum.
Furedi, F. (2006). Culture of Fear Revisited. London: Continuum.
Furedi, F. (2007). The only thing we have to fear is “the culture of fear” itself. New essay: How human thought and action are being stifled by a regime of uncertainty, Spiked, pp.1-11.
Gale, P. (2004). The refugee crisis and fear: Populist politics and media discourse. Journal of Sociology, 40(4), pp. 321-340.
Gardner, D. (2008). Risk. London: Virgin Books Ltd.
Grobet, A. (2014). “Responsible reporting and perceptions of migrants in an era of unprecedented mobility”. In G. Dell’ Orto and V. Birchfield eds., Reporting at the Southern Borders: Journalism and Public Debates on Immigration in the US and the EU. New York: Routledge, pp. 47–61.
Gropas, R. and Triandafyllidou, A. (2005). Active Civic Participation of Immigrants in Greece, Oldenburg: European research project POLITIS.
Jakonen, M. (2011). Thomas Hobbes on fear, mimesis, aisthesis and politics. Distinktion: Scandinavian Journal of Social Theory, 12(2), pp. 157-176.
Kasimis, C. 2012. Migration Policy Institute. http://www.migrationinformation.org/Profiles/display.cfm?ID=884 [Accessed 19 June 2015].
Kazdin A. E. ed. (2000). Encyclopedia of Psychology: 8 Volume Set. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
King, R. (2003). Towards a New Map of European Migration. International Journal of Population Geography, Volume 8, pp. 89-106.
Κyriazi, Ν. (2001). Sociological Research: Critical Evaluation of Methods and Techniques. Athens: Greek Letters.
Médecins Sans Frontières (2014). Invisible Suffering, Athens: MSF.
Milioni, D. L., Spyridou P. and Vadratsikas, K. (2015). ‘Framing immigration in online media and television news in crisis-stricken Cyprus’. The Cyprus Review, 27(1), pp. 155–185.
Milioni, D, and Vadratsikas K. (2016). The (golden) dawn of audiences? Assessing the audience empowerment thesis through a framing analysis of immigration in the Greek
Media. Interactions: Studies in Communication & Culture, 7(1), pp. 59-83.
Miller, L. R., & Brewer, J. D. eds. (2003). The A-Z of Social Research. London: Sage.
Moreno, E., Rodríguez, N., Stavropoulou, U., Mousmouti, M., Zavos, A., Katsas, T., Pentafronimos, G., Karantjias, T. , Papanikas, D., Ntouskas, T., Polemi, N., Krobisch, V., Wacker, M., Bosswick, W., Donda, A., Branchetti, S., Angiò, M., Matteucci, C. and Solinas, L. (2011). State-of-the-art and advances in European migration policies, Brussels: Immigration Policy 2.0.
Mylonas, I. (2014). Crisis, austerity and opposition in mainstream media discourses of Greece. Critical Discourse Studies, pp. 1-17.
Mythen, G. (2007). Reappraising the Risk Society Thesis: Telescopic Sight or Myopic Vision?. Current Sociology, 55(6), pp. 793-813.
Neuendorf, K. A. (2002). The Content Analysis Guidebook. London: Sage.
Papageorgiou, N. and Tsironis, C. (2013). Gender, Migration and the Economic Crisis in Greece: The current debate. Culture and Research, Volume 2, pp. 101-120.
Papandreou, G. (2013). Europe: Beyond the Crisis. EU, pp. 27-30.
Polyzos, S. (2006). Migratory flows to Greece: Determinant factors' analysis, typology of host regions and countries of origin. In: Thessalian University, ed. Aechoros. Athens: Thessalian University Publishing, pp. 68-103.
Poulakidakos S. (2014). Propaganda and Public Discourse. The presentation of the MoU by the Greek Media. Athens: DaVinci Books.
Poulakidakos, S. and Armenakis A. 2014. Propaganda in Greek Public Discourse. Propaganda Scales in the presentation of the Greek MoU-bailout agreement of 2010. Revue des Sciences Politiques, Volume 41, pp. 126-140.
Poulakidakos, S. and Kaloeida, S. (2015). Public discourse and populism in Greece: The immigration and the merchants of fear and mercy. Paper presented at the IAMCR 2015 conference in Montreal, Canada, July 12-16, 2015.
Poulakidakos, S., Veneti, A. (2016). ‘Political Communication and Twitter in Greece: Jumping on the bandwagon or an enhancement of the political dialogue?’ In Deželan T. and Vobic I. eds. (R)evolutionizing Political Communication through Social Media. USA: IGI Global, pp. 119-146.
Pram Grad U. and Lund Petersen K. (2011). Concepts of Politics in Securitization Studies. Security Dialogue 42(4-5), pp. 315-328.
Romer, D., Jamieson, K. H. and Aday, S. (2003). Television News and the Cultivation of Fear of Crime. Journal of Communication, 35(1), pp. 88-104.
Stemler, S. (2001). An Introduction to Content Analysis. ERIC Digest. ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation College Park MD. http://www.ericdigests.org/2002-2/content.htm [Accessed on December 27 2017].
Schuermans, N. and De Maesschalck, F. (2010). Fear of crime as a political weapon: explaining the rise of extreme right politics in the Flemish countryside. Social & Cultural Geography, 11(3), pp. 247-262.
Sparks, C. (2003). Liberalism, Terrorism and the Politics of Fear. Politics, 23(3), pp. 200-206.
Taguieff P. A. (1993). From Race to Culture: The New Right’s View of European Identity. Telos 1993(98-99), pp. 99-125.
Tramountanis, A. (2016). Defining National Belonging and Exclusion: The Case of Greek Immigration and Refugee Policy. Greek National Centre for Social Research (EKKE).
Triandafyllidou, A. (2008). Migration and Migration Policy in Greece. Critical Review and Policy Recommendations, Athens: ELIAMEP.
Van Dijk, T., A. (1987). Communicating Racism. Ethnic Prejudice in Thought and Talk. California: Sage.
Vasilopoulou, S. and Halikiopoulou, D. (2013). In the shadow of Grexit: The Greek Election of 17 June 2012. South European Society and Politics, 18(4), pp. 523-542.
Wal, J. ter (1996). The social representation of immigrants: The Pantanella issue in the pages of La Repubblica. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 22(1), pp. 39–66.
Wodak, R. and Angouri, J. (2014). "They became big in the shadow of the crisis":The Greek success story and the rise of the far-right. Discourse & Society, 25(4), pp. 540-565.
Young, J. R. (2003). The Role of Fear in Agenda Setting by Television News. American Behavioral Scientist, 46(12), pp. 1673-1695.
Zembylas, M. (2012). The politics of fear and empathy: emotional ambivalence in “host” children and youth discourses about migrants in Cyprus. Intercultural Education, 23(3), pp. 195-208.