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Othering in Media Representations of Elderly Care: Using the Social Justice Framework to Make Sense of Public Discourses on Migrants and Culture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 April 2021

Jonas Lindblom  and
Sandra Torres
Jonas Lindblom
Affiliation:
Mälardalen University, Sweden E-mail: Jonas.Lindblom@mdh.se
Sandra Torres
Affiliation:
Uppsala University, Sweden E-mail: Sandra.Torres@soc.uu.se
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Abstract

Population ageing and international migration are two of the major societal trends challenging European elderly care regimes at present. Virtually no research has addressed how public discourses about the implications of these trends for elderly care are shaped in different countries. This article addresses this knowledge gap, examining how Swedish daily newspaper (SvD and DN) reporting on elderly care between 1995 and 2017 (N=370) depicts the impact of increased ethno-cultural diversity on this sector. Through content analysis, this article brings attention to the representations of migrants and culture that this reporting has deployed, and the rhetorical practices that the reporting has relied on (i.e. genre stratification, hegemonisation, homogenisation, normative referencing and idealisation/ diminishment). The article exposes how the ‘Othering’ of migrants is accomplished in Sweden’s daily newspaper reporting on elderly care, and problematizes the ethea of inclusiveness and equality of care with which we have come to associate this welfare sector.

Keywords

Culturemediamigrantsrhetorical practiceselderly care
Type
Article
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 21 , Issue 2: THEMED SECTION: Policies and practices shaping long-term care: between an inclusivity ethos and service delivery realities , April 2022 , pp. 275 - 291
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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