Who's to blame for failed integration of immigrants? Blame attributions as an affectively polarizing force in lay discussions of immigration in Finland

Bibliographic Data

ID7352192
AuthorsHelena Rovamo (0000-0002-8152-306X, Department of Social Sciences University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland, corresponding author), Katarina Pettersson (0000-0001-8336-9505, Department of Social Sciences University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland), Inari Sakki (0000-0001-8717-5804, Department of Social Sciences University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland)
Year2023
Volume45
Issue2
Pages235-258
Publication date2023-08-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0162-895X • E-ISSN: 1467-9221
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/pops.12917
OpenAlexW4386050474
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited71

Increasing expression of antagonism toward immigrants has turned immigration into one of the most polarizing issues in many countries, among them Finland, dividing people into those who favor and those who oppose immigration. But while affective polarization of the kind exemplified by widespread responses to immigration has recently received increasing attention from political psychologists, little attention has been paid to how affective polarization develops through the mutual reinforcement of opposing discourses. The application of critical discursive psychology to interviews with lay Finns reveals this mutual reinforcement in progress. In our interviews, Finns across the political spectrum construct five subject positions by attributing blame for immigration‐related challenges. Both sides blame some “other” for the challenges while exempting themselves from blame. Our study makes three contributions to political psychology: exploring how blame attribution helps to generate affective polarization, illustrating the ability of (critical) discursive psychology to illuminate processes of affective polarization in individuals, and bringing the concept of affective polarization drawn from survey research into dialogue with the concept of subject positions constructed by blame attribution drawn from discursive studies of populism

Attribution · Blame · Immigration · Polarization (electrochemistry · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection · Law · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology

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