Discourses on Immigration in Times of Economic Crisis

The press is generally regarded as a reliable source of information, albeit with the capacity to propagate ideologies, social conceptions and beliefs. In this regard, it seems evident that the social role of the press can by no means be underestimated: it can influence our knowledge, values and social codes through linguistic and other semiotic means, sometimes hidden under a euphemistic lexical disguise holding up a liberal and apparently respectful discourse. Discourses on Immigration in Times of Economic Crisis examines the discursive and visual elements that are involved in reproducing ethnic and racial prejudices in contemporary press discourse. Our present reality is characterised by a moment of economic crisis, and it is a contention of the book that this affects the treatment of immigration, particularly in the press, which tends to refer to immigrants as a people-problem of some description or another. Therefore, the purpose of this book is to describe major aspects of discourse related to immigration within the present social context of the economic crisis.