Discourse about refugees as a symptom
of solidarity crisis
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1
Wyższa Szkoła Gospodarki Euroregionalnej
im. Alcide De Gasperi w Józefowie
2
Akademia Humanistyczna im. Aleksandra Gieysztora
Publication date: 2016-03-31
JoMS 2016;28(1):411-430
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
This paper concerns a Polish public discourse about migrants and refugees. The
author describes specific features of the discourse and tries to show strategies of
argumentation and rhetoric used by politicians and journalists in order to justify
opposition to the acceptance of refugees. The current study was carried out using
research tools taken from discourse analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis. The
research materials were texts published on the rightist websites: niezależna.pl,
myśl24.pl, wpolityce.pl, and fronda.pl. On the basis of the texts analysis the author
concludes that despite the great diversity, discursive strategies have in principle
two main goals, hence can be divided into two groups. The first group comprises
strategies that are based on the fear. Migrants that come from different cultures are
believed to pose various types of threats which size and nature depend only on the
author’s imagination and the examples that it feeds on. The second group contains
strategies concerning moral issues. They are built on the conviction that obligation to
help those in need and to solidarize with them is not universal and unconditional.