Constructions of Migrant Integration in British Public Discourse: Becoming British

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This is a study into how the public discourse on migrant integration in the UK changed from 2000-2010. The book shows that the discursive construction of integration in the British public sphere shifted from one of cultural pluralism to one of neo-assimilation, informed by a wider spread of neo-liberalism that necessitates self-sufficiency and discourages state assistance. Situated within the Critical Discourse Studies tradition, the book employs a Discourse Historical approach to the data and includes innovative analysis combining top-down (policy documents and media texts) and bottom-up (focus groups with migrants and new citizens) sites of discourse production. In doing so, it provides a broad and detailed perspective of public discourse on integration in the UK. The book shows that understandings of integration are diachronically and synchronically fluid and as such, the term plays an important role as a consensus concept that different actors can support whilst construing it in different ways. Analysis of the data further reveals that integration is interdiscursively linked to other social fields, such as the economy, terrorism and public spending. The book also argues that integration policy has become directed not just at new migrants, but also long-term British citizens and that this has the potential to have considerable impact on community cohesion.

Reviews

Bennett presents a clear overview of some of the theories of racism which highlights the centrality of the discriminatory and conflicting positions towards migrants ... This depth of analysis continues throughout [the book] ... The use of corpus tools to explore these patterns of recontextualisation is by far Bennetts greatest contribution here. * Journal of Corpora and Discourse Studies *
This thought-provoking, timely book is a major contribution to contemporary migration research, in Britain and beyond. Providing an illuminating discourse-analytic perspective on issues of race, ideology, social inclusion as well as exclusion, it expands our critical understanding of the very momentous of current European developments, Brexit including. Most crucially, it reveals the many ways in which the construction of personal, group and national identity can be manipulated in the public space and bound up with fear, security and conflict. -- Piotr Cap, Professor of Linguistics, University of Lodz, Poland
It is hard to think of a timelier book than Sam Bennetts discourse-historical study of immigration and integration discourses in 21st-century Britain. Bennett provides rich historical context to explain how particular forms of othering pervade government and media discourse on integration. It is very commendable that the book doesnt stop there , but compares and contrasts elite discourses with constructions of integration by various groups of migrants. Bennett closes with suggestions for policy and it would indeed be welcome if the findings of his study were to find their way into the public discourse he investigates. -- Veronika Koller, Reader in Discourse Studies, Lancaster University, UK

Author Bio

Sam Bennett is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of English at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland.