THE MAKING OF THE IMMIGRANT IDENTITY IN THE PRESS: Constructing the Immigrant Imagined Community

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Arts

On this thesis we present a study concerning the impact of the press on the making of the immigrant imagined community by youngsters in France and Portugal. Three hypotheses were initially put forward: 1. French articles will generate a more negative construction of the immigrant imagined community; 2. articles that discuss education will generate a more active reaction in the participants, as they are primarily related to adolescents; 3. content perceived as negative will have a stronger influence in the shift in the participant‟s viewpoint than content perceived as positive. The survey group consisted of 63 participants. The participants were presented with an article from a quality newspaper addressing criminality, employment or education in relation to immigration, and were subsequently required to fill in a questionnaire. Frequencies were used to establish a comparative analysis between the vocabulary patterns in the articles and the vocabulary introduced by the participants. A percentage analysis was used to identify the impact of the articles on the participants. The thesis is comprised of a literature review, research methodology, and a discussion of the findings. The findings were discussed in accordance with the topic of the article and the cultural background of the participants. The results showed that youngsters from both France and Portugal prefer deflating to neutral and praising vocabulary, constructing an overall negative immigrant imagined community. Although youngsters draw from the general vocabulary patterns in the articles, the attributes chosen do not match those predominant in the articles. Education articles are those which generated the greatest consensus but also the least impact on the participants. Content perceived by the participants as negative had a stronger impact on the participants‟ viewpoint than content perceived as positive or neutral. These results indicate that negative depictions of the immigrant in the press will have a strong impact in the making of the immigrant imagined community by youngsters.