Ideological Boundary-Making: Representing Immigrants in an Anti-Immigration Party

Abstract

How can migrant organisations affiliated to anti-immigration political parties reconcile their party’s ideology with the representation of immigrants? Based on a website content analysis, this article investigates the representative claims of a migrant group affiliated to the Swiss People’s Party. Comparing them to the discourse of its left-wing counterpart, the findings show that the group sets ideological boundaries between immigrants, establishing a hierarchy that enables it to contrast its members with the immigrants targeted by its party.

Keywords

• migrant organisations
• radical right
• representative claims
• boundary-making
• switzerland