'All of a sudden for no reason they've been displaced': Constructing the 'contingent refugee' in early media reports on the Ukrainian refugees.
Ukrainian refugees
contingent refugees
discursive psychology
good refugee
Journal
The British journal of social psychology
ISSN: 2044-8309
Titre abrégé: Br J Soc Psychol
Pays: England
ID NLM: 8105534
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Oct 2023
Oct 2023
Historique:
received:
06
10
2022
accepted:
07
04
2023
medline:
23
10
2023
pubmed:
26
5
2023
entrez:
26
5
2023
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
This paper analyzes descriptions of Ukrainian refugees in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Findings of previous research on news media descriptions of refugees point to problematic descriptions of refugees that downgrade their deservingness of refuge and treat refugee status as an inherent feature of fleeing individuals instead of as contingent on external circumstances. However, there is a widespread perception that Ukrainian refugees are being reported on in a more positive light. We therefore examine how news media describe these refugees. Our corpus includes English media news coverage from February 25, 2022, to March 25, 2022, the initial period of the invasion. A discursive psychological analysis of news interactions where hosts elicit information from correspondents about current ongoings with Ukrainian refugees shows that Ukrainian refugees are constructed as vulnerable, and their actions are treated as reasonable given the situation. These descriptions construct Ukrainian refugees as those who are only contingently refugees and legitimate help-giving by other parties. Our findings, therefore, highlight distinct, previously unanalyzed ways that refugees are constructed: contingent refugees. We discuss implications of our findings for understanding refugee inclusion and exclusion.
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
1715-1732Informations de copyright
© 2023 The Authors. British Journal of Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Psychological Society.
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