Kyriaki Doumou, Aphrodite Baka, Lia Figgou

Culture, Refugees and Essentialism in the Mass Media Discourse in Greece

Introduction

Culture, refugees and essentialism in the mass media discourse in greece. Examines essentialism in Greek mass media discourse regarding refugees. Analysis reveals how media frames refugee culture (Islam/Western) to argue for either cultural clash or coexistence.

Abstract

Particular research interest has been manifested in the field of social psychology in the study of essentialism in the construction of social categories and in its possible consequences. The present research focuses on essentialist and de-essentialist lines of arguing used in references to culture in mass media discourse on refugees in Greece. Articles by four widely circulated electronic newspapers with various political positions, were analyzed through the use of discursive social and rhetoric psychology. The analysis highlighted argumentative lines that either essentialize or de-essentialize culture. Refugee’s culture is essentialized when it is presented as inherently dangerous due to its connection to Islam and its conflict with Western culture is presented as inevitable. The culture of refugees, however, is also essentialized when it is presented as compatible to the Western one and as subject to change through education. The analysis revealed that both essentialization of the refugee’s culture and de-essentialization are used in media discourse to support not only the clash of cultures, but also the possibility of their coexistence. Thus, arguments in favor of the cross- cultural coexistence sometimes support the possibility of deconstructing and reconstructing cultural elements (de-essentialization) and sometimes support the equivalence of autonomous and concrete cultures (essentialism).

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