Same but Different: Muslims and Foreigners in Public Media Discourse

Abstract

This contribution analyzes the public discourse on foreigners and Muslims in Switzerland between 2000 and 2009. In Switzerland, as elsewhere in Europe, the Muslim minority has emerged as the main concern for integration in public discourse. What makes Muslims special in the debate on immigration and integration? How does the public discourse on Muslims differ from the portrayal of foreigners in general? A quantitative content analysis of four Swiss newspapers was conducted covering three direct democratic campaigns. While the demographic composition of the Muslim minority has not changed substantially, the way Muslims are perceived in public discourse did. Certain ethnic groups, which are still categorized as foreigners in 2000, are mainly assigned to the Muslim minority in 2009. The latter is seen as a relatively homogeneous group raising other issues than foreigners. These results should lead to question the current academic and political debate on integration in Switzerland.

Can Terrorism Abroad Influence Migration Attitudes at Home?

“…Concern with migration may then partially reflect concern with Islam. With increasing media attention to the Muslim population, the term Muslim has become an important category for public debate in Europe (Feddersen ). Although other migrant groups are also seen more negatively in the aftermath of terrorist attacks (Davis ; Hitlan et al.…”

The consequences of terrorism on migration attitudes across Europe

“…Migration has been securitized during the recent wave of terrorism and discursively linked to the threat of terrorist attacks (Huysmans, 2006;Rudolph, 2003;Tirman, 2004). In most Western countries, the media and politicians have presented migrants and associated groups like asylum seekers, refugees or Muslims as a threat to security and local culture, including in the Netherlands (Roggeband & Vliegenthart, 2007), Germany (Bauder, 2008), Switzerland (Feddersen, 2015), Australia (Mckay, Thomas, & Warwick Blood, 2011), and the US (Rudolph, 2003). Despite the lack of objective evidence linking migration to terrorism and the fact that violent extremists are rarely new immigrants (Sageman, 2011), the Polish president Andrzej Duda stated in 2017 that "there is no doubt that the growing wave of terrorism is linked to migration" and that "migrants pose a security threat" (Radio Poland, 2017).…”

Within and Beyond the Community: Tensions in Muslim Service Provision in Switzerland

“…The latter point gains an even greater weight when contrasted with the recurring waves of Islamophobia at the national level (cf. Baycan and Gianni 2019;Gianni 2016;Cheng 2015;Feddersen 2015).…”