Constructing the stereotype of immigrants' criminality: Accounts of fear and risk in talk about immigration to Greece

Abstract

This paper explores the discursive construction of immigrants' criminality in interview accounts obtained by a sample of Greek people in Thessaloniki (Northern Greece). Analysis, which adopts a discursive approach to stereotypes and category construction, indicates that fear and insecurity on the part of Greek people are represented as a sine qua non consequence of immigration to Greece. Two different lines of argument are used to account for the arousal of fear. According to the first, fear constitutes a corollary of a widespread stereotypical representation of immigrants as criminals. The stereotype of immigrants' criminality is considered to be ill-warranted and it is attributed to the media or to other unspecified people. According to another, more regularly used, line of argument, however, fear is predicated upon the sordid living conditions of immigrants in Greece which make the probability of them being involved in illegal acts particularly high. In this case, fear is seen to derive from a 'rational estimate' of the probability of immigrant's involvement in criminal acts. Nested within the discourse of 'risk' the stereotypical image of immigrants' criminality is sustained and used to account for the need to protect the 'ingroup' from 'immigrant groups' through immigration control and surveillance.

Essentialism in Social Representations of Citizenship: An Analysis of Greeks' and Migrants' Discourse

“…Ideas about illegality and the notion of the “uninvited guest” are in line with existing research on representations of asylum seekers and other migrants, both in the Greek context, where they are represented as criminal and violent (Figgou et al, ; Pavlou, ) but also generally in Western societies (Hanson‐Easey & Augoustinos, ) where they are represented as illegal or bogus and opportunist (Lynn & Lea, ).…”

“…Such debates are particularly challenging in the Greek context. On the one hand, Greek national identity is predominantly based on an ethnic representation of the Greek nation (Chryssochoou, ; Triandafyllidou & Veikou, ) and is commonly constructed against the “immigrant other” (Figgou, Sapountzis, Bozatzis, Gardikiotis, & Pantazis, ; Triandafyllidou & Veikou, ; Tzanelli, ). On the other hand, the intense political, social, and economic crisis along with the rise of extremist right‐wing politics has intensified the preexisting anti‐immigration feelings in the country.…”

Admissions of racism in discourse on migration in Greece: Beyond the norm against prejudice?

“…An important finding of this research is that people try to distance themselves from negative stereotypes about immigrants treating them as problematic, as an instance of an irrational generalization. At the same time though, their own or others' fears of immigrants were justified on the premises that some of the immigrants may be involved or are more likely to be involved in criminal activities due to economic deprivation (Di Masso, Castrechini, & Valera, ; Figgou & Condor, ; Figgou, Sapountzis, Bozatzis, Gardikiotis, & Pantazis, ).…”

Punitive inclusion: The political economy of irregular migration in the margins of Europe

“…Comparative survey research, for example, has demonstrated that anti-foreigner sentiment is higher in Greece than anywhere else in Europe (Semyonov et al, 2006;Mulcahy, 2011), and that Greeks hold the most negative views on the continent regarding the impact of foreigners on society, including their impact on crime (Semyonov et al, 2012; see also Semyonov et al, 2008;Semyonov and Glikman, 2009;Ceobanu, 2011;Mulcahy, 2011;Swarts and Karakatsanis, 2013;Figgou et al, 2011). Domestic survey research has meanwhile found that Greeks are more likely to favour stricter police treatment for immigrants than for natives, just as they are more likely to favour imprisonment for immigrant offenders than for offenders from other socio-demographic groups (see further Cheliotis and Xenakis, 2011).…”