Article Summary
Bruneau et al. (2018) focused on the effect of rhetorical dehumanization of Muslim refugees that entered the EU during the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ in 2014-15. The idea to study such a phenomenon appeared when the authors drew attention to the hostile rhetoric of some European politicians who blamed refugees for being less than fully human. The research purpose was to measure the influence of dehumanization rhetoric (blatant dehumanization) on the acceptance of Muslim refugees. Bruneau et al. (2018) predicted that such rhetoric deceived Europeans and influenced their mindset by political manipulation. To test the predictions, the authors collected data from four European countries (Czech Republic, Spain, Greece, and Hungary), which were highly influenced by the migration waves. The data itself was the collected answers conducted by local sociological organizations through phone calls and Internet polls. In sum, there were 3 792 observations, with the majority of them being collected in the Czech Republic. Besides the blatant humanization, the authors chose prejudice as another possible indicator.
The research findings confirmed the expectations that blatant dehumanization was one of the major factors contributing to the formulation of refugees’ negative image. One of the peculiarities of the findings is that the level of blatant dehumanization was higher in Eastern Europe than in the Western part. The reason for that may be the prevalence of derogatory rhetoric, which constructs the discourse about migrants, coupled with a low number of real contact with refugees. Discussing the strength of the article, it presented a very concise literature review and research result discussion. As for the possible weaknesses, there can be debates about how the question about dehumanization was asked. To measure blatant dehumanization, Bruneau et al. (2018) created special slider bars from 0 to 100 and suggested respondents determine the extent to which migrants are “evolved and civilized” (p. 649). Respondents may understand the question differently and perceive Muslim migrants as backward because of the original country’s low GDP and real income.
Personal Learning Objective
The personal learning objective is the special study goal related to the knowledge that should be acquired. The article helped me know the field of studies on anti-immigrant attitudes better because of the well-structured literature review. The literature review highlighted the most crucial causes of discrimination and blatant dehumanization in other countries. As for the more contextualized contributions, Bruneau et al. (2018) helped me know the variables I can use in my further studies. They showed how different parameters could be measured, so similar research can be conducted in other European countries where the problem of illegal migration is acute. For example, the same measurement of variables can be used in the discussion of Western countries like Germany and France, where the strong opposition towards migrants is rising. Using knowledge from this article, it will be easier to conduct preliminary polls with defined variables.
Steps Further
To expand the knowledge about the construction of discourse on Muslim migrants, there is a need to study some political science articles discussing the major far-right parties in European countries. The reason is that these parties (like Freedom and Direct Democracy in the Czech Republic and Vox in Spain) build the major trends in the local discussion of Muslim migrants. For this purpose, it is useful to read articles based on the discourse analysis of political programs and politicians’ statements that have become popular.
Reference
Bruneau, E., Kteily, N., & Laustsen, L. (2018). The unique effects of blatant dehumanization on attitudes and behavior towards Muslim refugees during the European ‘refugee crisis’ across four countries. European Journal of Social Psychology, 48(5), 645-662. Web.