The Container Today; Re-examining Metaphors of Immigration in the British Press

• In Event: 505 - Section on Global and Transnational Sociology Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 10. Race, Class, and Gender in Global Crossroads

Abstract

Within the context of the 2001 and 2005 British general elections, Charteris-Black (2006) examined the role of metaphor in legitimizing anti-immigration/immigrant political claims. Natural disaster and container metaphors were found to be salient, the implications of which were discussed. I consider the state of British anti-immigration discourse – within the tabloid media, in particular – in the context of the easing of work restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian citizens in 2014 and the build-up to the May 2014 European Parliamentary elections. I ask whether these same metaphors still persist from within the metaphor theory approach, noting conceptual metaphors, metaphoric expressions, and the mapping of source domains onto target domains.

Author

• Alexander Feliks Smithers, University of South Florida