Elite stigmatization of the unemployed: The association between framing and public attitudes

Abstract

This paper uses a multi‐methods approach to explore the social psychological construction of stigma towards the unemployed. Study 1a uses thematic analysis to explore frames used by political elites in speeches at U.K. national party conferences between 1996 and 2016 (n = 43); in study 1b, we track the usage of these frames in six national newspapers (n = 167,723 articles) over the same period showing an increase in the use of negative frames. Study 1c shows that these are associated with national attitudes towards welfare recipients using the British Social Attitude Survey. We find the ‘Othering’ frame is correlated with negative attitudes towards the unemployed, even when controlling for the unemployment rate. This finding supports the claim that social attitudes are related to frames produced in the political and media spheres. We provide theoretical integration between social representations theory and framing which affords development in both domains.

Understanding a liminal condition: Comparing emerging representations of the “vegetative state”

“…In other words, we identified and counted all the articles on the topic published in all the available newspapers in the three countries and indexed in the Factiva database. Moreover, following Okoroji et al (2021), we obtained a proxy for the total newshole published in each country over the period by searching for the word "the" (India,n = 37,828,031;Italy,n = 45,295,616;the UK,n = 98,257,528).…”

Poverty and Social Psychology: The Importance of Integrative Manner

“…For example, Moussa-Smona [80] found that economically vulnerable people have a lower level of subjective well-being and life satisfaction than those who are more secure. Similarly, Okoroji et al [62] showed that stigmatization processes produced by representations in media and politics make poor people suffer from marginalization, which in turn causes vulnerability for psychological distress. Another study demonstrates that social injustice and poverty increases negative child experiences [82].…”

“…Guzzo [61] also emphasizes that psychological inquiry should focus on the political attitude when combating poverty. On the other hand, Okoroji et al [62] prioritize the importance of the social-psychological analysis of marginalization towards the poor addressing the relationship of poverty with the representations produced in the media and politics is expressed. Many studies that focus on the multidimensional evaluation of poverty also point to suggestions for reducing or ending poverty.…”

Violent bureaucracy: A critical analysis of the British public employment service

“…The Coalition's austerity programme took, in part at least, the symbolic 'form of a massive propaganda exercise' (Tyler, 2020: 194). From 2008, pejorative, stigmatising portrayals of out-of-work populations became increasingly prevalent in political discourse (Okoroji et al, 2020). Politicians intentionally rehashed and enflamed centuries' worth of 'scrounger' discourses to fortify anti-welfare common sense and manufacture consent for austerity (Morrison, 2019: 8;Tyler, 2020: 19).…”

“…This resulted in outbreaks of interpersonal violence upon migrant and benefit claiming populations (Burnett, 2017: 220;Ryan, 2019: 29). However, the main effects were a general hardening of public attitudes towards claimants and growing support for punitive measures (Okoroji et al, 2020). According to one survey, the percentage of people agreeing that cutting welfare benefits would damage too many people's lives had fallen by 17% from 59% in 2000 to 42% in 2010 (Taylor and Taylor-Gooby, 2014: 6).…”