Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Underdogs Shepherding the Flock—Discursive Outgrouping of ‘the Internal Enemy’ in Online Discussions

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Far-Right Discourse of Multiculturalism in Intergroup Interactions

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Discursive Psychology ((PSDP))

Abstract

In this chapter, we analyse how mainstream discussants articulate their objections to multiculturalism when discussing news events featuring radical right talking points on intergroup relations. Collecting discussions on two high-profile media events on the Facebook page of Helsingin Sanomat, the largest daily newspaper in the Nordic countries, we analyse both established and emergent discourses of othering. In the first case study, we analyse the debates revolving around the emergence of the far-right vigilante group Soldiers of Odin in January 2016, while the second case examines the discussion on the election of Jussi Halla-aho as the chairman of the radical right populist Finns Party in June 2017. We find that lay discussants construct a category of ‘internal enemies’, and present them as multiculturalist traitors of the nation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Chairman from 10 June 2017 to 14 August 2021.

  2. 2.

    The authors carefully weighed the ethical considerations regarding the collection of material. The material was collected from a public Facebook page of Helsingin Sanomat, with authors removing any information identifying the discussants cited. In a context, where the discussants participate in public debate on an open arena, “informed consent [...] although desirable, it is not [...] essential [and] can be waived if the research involves minimal risk and does not negatively affect the rights and well-being of subjects” (Sugiura, Wiles, and Pope 2016). This decision is also in line with the suggestion by Hård af Segerstad et al. (2017, 220) for using the “thumb rule” of “data minimization”, only retrieving and presenting “the data needed to pursue a specific research question.”

  3. 3.

    A more rigorous application of the five-step model would have been counterproductive, both by downplaying the groundedness reached through the inductive approach to coding, and also because the material is composed of informal lay discourse. After all, social media commentary on popular media events nurtures a rhetoric where the element of collective curation serves to impede the kind of systematic articulations that characterise the rhetoric of the subjects the five-step model focuses on: political leaders, ethnopolitical identity entrepreneurs and ideological activists.

  4. 4.

    All translations are by the authors. The list of original extracts in Finnish is available in Appendix A.

  5. 5.

    Itäkeskus is a neighbourhood in Eastern Helsinki known for its large mall and its more multicultural population (at the end of 2018, 38.1% of Itäkeskus’ residents had a foreign background, especially African, currently the second highest percentage in all of Helsinki. https://ulkomaalaistaustaisethelsingissa.fi/en/content/spatial-distribution-population-foreign-background).

References

  • Aharoni, S. B., & Féron, E. (2020). National populism and gendered vigilantism: the case of the soldiers of Odin in Finland. Cooperation and Conflict, 55(1), 86–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banting, K., & Kymlicka, W. (Eds.). (2006). Multiculturalism and the welfare state: Recognition and redistribution in contemporary democracies. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauvois, G. (2011). Entre le Grand Nord et Paris, les artistes finlandais en France au XIXème siècle. In M. Lähteenmäki & J. Ferrand (Eds.), Le Grand Tour. Du reste de l’Europe jusqu’à la Laponie — et retour. University Press Helsinki.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berry, J. W., & Kalin, R. (2000). Multicultural policy and social psychology: The Canadian experience. In S. A. Renshon & J. Duckitt (Eds.), Political psychology: Cultural and cross-cultural foundations (pp. 263–284). NYU Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Billig, M. (1987). Arguing and thinking: A rhetorical approach to social psychology. Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Billig, M. (2009). Discursive psychology, rhetoric and the issue of agency. Semen, 27. https://doi.org/10.4000/semen.8930.

  • Bjørgo, T., & Mareš, M. (2019). Vigilantism against migrants and minorities: Concepts and goals of current research. In T. Bjørgo & M. Mareš (Eds.), Vigilantism against migrants and minorities (pp. 1–30). Routledge.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1991). Social space and the genesis of ‘classes.’ In J. Thompson (Ed.), Language and symbolic power (pp. 229–251). Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, R., & Gaertner, S. (Eds.). (2002). Blackwell handbook of social psychology: Intergroup processes. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brubaker, R. (2002). Ethnicity without groups. European Journal of Sociology/archives Européennes De Sociologie, 43(2), 163–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brubaker, R., Loveman, M., & Stamatov, P. (2004). Ethnicity as cognition. Theory and Society, 33(1), 31–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Condor, S., Tileaga, C., & Billig, M. (2013). Political rhetoric. In L. Huddy, D. Sears, & J. S. Levy (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of political psychology (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finlay, W. M. L. (2007). The propaganda of extreme hostility: Denunciation and the regulation of the group. British Journal of Social Psychology, 46(2), 323–341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardiner, S. L. (2005). White nationalism revisited: Demographic dystopia and white identity politics. Journal of Hate Studies, 4(1), 59–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hård af Segerstad, Y., Kullenberg, C., Kasperowski, D., & Howes, C. (2017). Studying closed communities on-line: Digital methods and ethical considerations beyond informed consent and anonymity. In M. Zimmer & K. Kinder-Kurlanda (Eds.), Internet research ethics for the social age: New challenges, cases, and contexts. New edition. Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haslam, N. (2006). Dehumanization: An integrative review. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10(3), 252–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haslam, S. A., Reicher, S., & Platow, M. J. (2010). The new psychology of leadership. Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hopkins, N., Reicher, S., & Levine, M. (1997). On the parallels between social cognition and the ‘new racism.’ British Journal of Social Psychology, 36(3), 305–329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keskinen, S. (2018, May). The ‘crisis’ of white hegemony, neonationalist femininities and antiracist feminism. Women’s Studies International Forum, 68, 157–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kotonen, T. (2019). The soldiers of Odin Finland: From a local movement to an international franchise. In T. Bjørgo & M. Miroslav (Eds.), Vigilantism against migrants and minorities (pp. 245–256). Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laaksonen, S.-M., Pantti, M., & Titley, G. (2020). Broadcasting the movement and branding political microcelebrities: Finnish anti-immigration video practices on YouTube. Journal of Communication, 70(2), 171–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laryš, M. (2019). Violent attacks against migrants and minorities in the Russian federation. In T. Bjørgo & M. Miroslav (Eds.), Vigilantism against migrants and minorities (pp. 69–85). Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lesińska, M. (2014, February). The European backlash against immigration and multiculturalism. Journal of Sociology, 50(1), 37–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynn, N., & Lea, S. (2003). ‘A phantom menace and the new apartheid’: The social construction of asylum seekers in the United Kingdom. Discourse & Society, 14(4), 425–452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mason, J. (2002). Qualitative researching (2nd ed.). Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mast, J. L. (2020). A civil sphere theory of populism: American forms and templates, from red scare to Donald Trump. In C. A. Jeffrey, P. Kivisto, & G. Sciortino (Eds.), Populism in the civil sphere (pp. 251–277). Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, D. (2004). Social justice in multicultural societies. In P. Van Parijs (Eds.), Cultural Diversity Versus Economic Solidarity: Proceedings of the Seventh Francqui Colloquium, Brussels, 28 February–1 March 2003 (pp. 13–31). Bibliothèque Scientifique Francqui, 6. De Boeck.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mols, F., & Jetten, J. (2014, November). No guts, no glory: How framing the collective past paves the way for anti-immigrant sentiments [Special issue: Critical junction theory]. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 43, 74–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nordensvard, J., & Ketola, M. (2015). Nationalist reframing of the Finnish and Swedish welfare states—The nexus of nationalism and social policy in far-right populist parties. Social Policy & Administration, 49(3), 356–375.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norocel, C., Saresma, T., Lähdesmäki, T., & Ruotsalainen, M. (2020, December). Performing ‘us’ and ‘other’: Intersectional analyses of right-wing populist media. European Journal of Cultural Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nortio, E., Niska, M., Renvik, T.A., & Jasinskaja-Lahti, I. (2020, January). ‘The nightmare of multiculturalism’: Interpreting and deploying anti-immigration rhetoric in social media. New Media & Society, 23(3), 438–456.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pettersson, K. (2019). ‘Freedom of speech requires actions’: Exploring the discourse of politicians convicted of hate-speech against Muslims. European Journal of Social Psychology, 49(5), 938–952.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pettersson, K., & Sakki, I. (2017). Pray for the Fatherland! Discursive and digital strategies at play in nationalist political blogging. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 14(3), 315–349.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Potter, J., & Wetherell, M. (1987). Discourse and social psychology: Beyond attitudes and behaviour. Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pyrhönen, N. (2015). The true colors of Finnish welfare nationalism: Consolidation of neo-populist advocacy as a resonant collective identity through mobilization of exclusionary narratives of blue-and-white solidarity. University of Helsinki.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pyrhönen, N., Bauvois, G., & Rosenström, S. (2021). Soldiers of Odin as Peril or protection? Hybrid mediatization of oppositional framings on anti-immigration responses to the ‘refugee crisis.’ Nordiques‚ (40).

    Google Scholar 

  • Pyysiäinen, J. (2010). Co-constructing a virtuous ingroup attitude? Evaluation of new business activities in a group interview of farmers. Text & Talk, 30(6), 701–721.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rapley, M. (1998). ‘Just an ordinary Australian’: Self-categorization and the discursive construction of facticity in ‘new racist’ political rhetoric. British Journal of Social Psychology, 37(3), 325–344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reicher, S. (2004). The context of social identity: Domination, resistance, and change. Political Psychology, 25(6), 921–945.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reicher, S., Haslam, A., & Rath, R. (2008). Making a virtue of evil: A five-step social identity model of the development of collective hate. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(3), 1313–1344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reicher, S., & Hopkins, N. (2001). Self and nation. Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sakki, I., Hakoköngäs, E., & Pettersson, K. (2018). Past and present nationalist political rhetoric in Finland: Changes and continuities. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 37(2), 160–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sakki, I., & Martikainen, J. (2020). Mobilizing collective hatred through humour: Affective–discursive production and reception of populist rhetoric. British Journal of Social Psychology, 60(2), 610–634.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sakki, I., & Pettersson, K. (2016). Discursive constructions of otherness in populist radical right political blogs. European Journal of Social Psychology, 46(2), 156–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shoshan, N. (2016). The management of hate: Nation, affect, and the governance of right-wing extremism in Germany. Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sugiura, L., Wiles, R., & Pope, C. (2016, July). Ethical challenges in online research: Public/private perceptions. Research Ethics, 13(3–4), 184–199.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swidler, A. (1986). Culture in action: Symbols and strategies. American Sociological Review, 51(2), 273–286.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tajfel, H. (Ed.). (2010). Social identity and intergroup relations (Reissue ed.). Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In W. G. Austin & S. Worchel (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33–37). Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verkuyten, M. (2003). Discourses about ethnic group (de-)essentialism: Oppressive and progressive aspects. The British Journal of Social Psychology, 42(Pt 3), 371–391.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verkuyten, M. (2004, March). Everyday ways of thinking about multiculturalism. Ethnicities, 4(1), 53–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verkuyten, M. (2007). Social psychology and multiculturalism. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 1(1), 280–297.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verkuyten, M. (2013). Justifying discrimination against Muslim immigrants: Out-group ideology and the five-step social identity model. British Journal of Social Psychology, 52(2), 345–360.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Virkki, T., & Venäläinen, S. (2020). Affective (re)orientations in online discussions on the threat of violence posed by migrants. Social Identities, 26(3), 403–418.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westlake, D. (2016, November). Multiculturalism, political parties, and the conflicting pressures of ethnic minorities and far-right parties. Party Politics, 24(4), 421–433.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, C., & Finlay, W. M. L. (2008). British national party representations of Muslims in the month after the London bombings: Homogeneity, threat, and the conspiracy tradition. British Journal of Social Psychology, 47(4), 707–726.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ylä-Anttila, T., Bauvois, G., & Pyrhönen, N. (2019, December). Politicization of migration in the countermedia style: A computational and qualitative analysis of populist discourse. Discourse, Context & Media, 32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yılmaz, Fe. (2012). Right-wing hegemony and immigration: How the populist far-right achieved hegemony through the immigration debate in Europe. Current Sociology, 60(3), 368–381.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Gwenaëlle Bauvois, Niko Pyrhönen & Jarkko Pyysiäinen

Authors
  1. Gwenaëlle Bauvois
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Niko Pyrhönen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jarkko Pyysiäinen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gwenaëlle Bauvois .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Swedish School of Social Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Katarina Pettersson

  2. University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Emma Nortio

Appendices

Appendix A: Extracts in Finnish

SOO 1.18:

Juu sehän huolestuttaa jos suomalaiset pitää toistensa turvallisuudesta huolta! Tää meidän valtiovalta kun on panostanut vaan näihin turvapaikanhakioihin omat voimansa!

HA 6.13:

Siksi, että tämän kansan on aika herätä.

HA 8.2:

Jep, onneksi nämä otsikoinnit kääntyvät JHAn eduksi. Suomalaiset ovat heräämässä.

SOO 1:16:

Miten nämä tph asiat nyt muka jtn yllättää.? onhan näistä jo puhuttu kohta puolivuotta, ja mihinkä tämä johtaa sekä mitä riemuja meille näistä viell tulee. Nyt naatitaan vaan.sadosta...!

Mutta minkäs teet.?? näillä mennään. Ja nyt kukin huolehtikoon itsestään sekä perheestään...parhaan kykynsä mukaan...!!

(HA) 5.3::

Eikös hallitusohjelmaan ollut kirjattu 750 pakolaisen kiintiö ? Montakos niitä on otettu ? Mitä tämä kaikki on tullut jo nyt maksamaan ? Nämä valtaapitäviä hännystelevät toimittaja-junkkarit (sori kirjoitusvirhe) voisivat hoitaa työnsä ja selvittää asian kansalaisille. Ja samaan hengenvetoon kysellä näiltä puheenjohtaja-pelleiltä, miten he aikovat rahoittaa näiden ulkomailta tulleiden toiviolasten aiheuttamat kulut.

HA 2:8:

Hei haloo hesassa on näitä tummia ollut iät ajat ja minulla on kolme tytärtä, joita hakenut autolla sieltä täältä tuolta turvallisuussyistä. Ja varsinkin nuorimmaistani, joka nyt 23, mamujen vuoksi itiksestä kun ei usksaltanut tUlla bussilla kotia.

Minä oon nyt 58 ja mamut lääppiny mua metrossa. Jos olisivat olleet valkoisia olisin knokannu otsaan mutta en viitsiny näitä. Ei jaksa kuunnella sitä rasisti paskaa.

SOO 2:5:

Pakkohan täällä on kohta ollakkin joitakin katupartioita jos naiset ei saa rauhassa liikkua iltaisin ja poliisit ei kykene jokapaikkaan auttamaan.

SOO 1:12:

Hyvä että joku partioi. Täällä Suomessa, varsinkin kotoaan poissa opiskelevat pelkäävät hitosti raiskaajia ja ryöstäjiä. ENTÄ JOS joku ryöstäisi tai hakkaisi teidät? Ja kun ei kukaan partioisi, avunhuuto on lähes turhaa, kuin miehillä ja naisilla. Olisitteko sitten samaa mieltä, jos te joutuisitte rikoksen uhreiksi?'

SOO 2:10::

Ihmettelen suuresti näitä naisia jotka taistelevat rasismia vastaa samalla hyväksyvät miesjoukon kourivan naisia kadulla. Kuka puolustaa naista/tyttöä joka kohtaa 2-5 hengen miesjoukon jotka tulevat iholle.? Minäkä olen rasisti joka en hyväksy tätä, mitä nämä ovat petoja.

HA 6:15::

Nuo raiskaustekstit ovat nähtävissä monella tapaa.

Tietenkin paras tilanne on, kun ketään ei raiskata, mutta tuossa toivotaan lähinnä uhreiksi joutuvan "syyttömien" sijaan joitain muita. Avaan tätä ajatusta vertauksen kautta: Jos muurari tekee huteran talon, kumman toivot asuvan siinä talossa? Muurarin itse, vai jonkun muun. Jos muurarin tekemä hutera talo romahtaa, sinne sisään jää joko viaton tai sitten muurari itse, jolloin hän joutuisi kärsimään itse oman huonon työnsä seuraukset.

(SOO) 3.2::

Noi pellet kannattavat raiskauksia ja pakolaisten tekemiä väkivallantekoja. He ovat joko erittäin tyhmiä tai pakolaisia Suomeen orjatyövoimaksi hankkivan hallituksen palkkaamia.

(HA) 6.23::

Suomen oikeuslaitos polkee rikosten/raiskattujen uhrien asemaa rasisti-leiman pelossa. Eurooppalainen suvaitsevasuus ja sivistystasokilpailu on johtanut MATUJEN lieviin raiskautuomioihin mikä tekee heistä immuuneja rangaistuksen pelosta.

Appendix B: Codes

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Bauvois, G., Pyrhönen, N., Pyysiäinen, J. (2022). Underdogs Shepherding the Flock—Discursive Outgrouping of ‘the Internal Enemy’ in Online Discussions. In: Pettersson, K., Nortio, E. (eds) The Far-Right Discourse of Multiculturalism in Intergroup Interactions. Palgrave Studies in Discursive Psychology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89066-7_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation