Description
Book SynopsisThis book presents the main findings of an empirical exploration of media discourses on social representations of “otherness” in seven European countries. It focuses on the analysis of press discourses produced over a fifteen-year period (2000–2015) on three contemporary figures of otherness that challenge the identity of European societies, question the attitudes towards diversity, and pose significant challenges for policy-makers: immigration, Islam, and LGBT. The book provides a comprehensive and articulate map of how national media addresses such themes from both synchronic and diachronic perspectives, revealing patterns of continuity and discontinuity across time and space. Lastly, it discusses these patterns in the light of their cultural meanings and their influence on social and political collective behaviours.
Table of ContentsIntroduction.- Part I: The identity-otherness dynamics.- Chapter 1. Identity, otherness, and sociocultural dynamics (Sergio Salvatore).- Chapter 2. Theories and methods (Alessia Rochira).- Part II: Maps of Otherness.- Chapter 3. Immigration (Giuseppe A. Veltri).- Chapter 4. Islam (Gordon Sammuta).- Chapter 5. LGBT (Alina Pop).- Part III: Symbolic resources for the representation of otherness.- Chapter 6. The semiotic construction of Otherness (Sergio Salvatore).- Chapter 7. An interpretative model: Semiotic fields and semiotic forces (Sergio Salvatore).- Chapter 8. Implications for policy-making and further developments (Giuseppe Veltri).
