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Article published In:
Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 14:4 (2015) ► pp.501–527

The in-group and out-groups of the British National Party and the UK Independence Party

A corpus-based discourse-historical analysis

| | Lund University |
| | Lund University |

This article investigates the self-presentation and the construction of immigration discourses in articles and policy documents published by the British National Party (BNP) and the UK Independence Party (UKIP). By combining corpus analysis with the Discourse-Historical Approach to Critical Discourse Analysis, a picture emerges of two parties whose use of language is governed by the same principle of differentiation. Fundamental to the BNP’s and UKIP’s language is the dichotomy in-group/out-group. The in-group analysis investigates the parties’ choice of form of self-representation, claims to unique competence, denial of attributes and mutual perception. The out-group analysis shows how the parties construct immigration, and focuses on the aspects of legal status, quantification and origin. The analyses suggest considerable lexical and conceptual similarities in both in-group and out-group formation.

Keywords: extreme right, far right, fascism, immigration, nationalism, self representation
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature Review
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Corpus analysis: The in-group and out-group perspective
    • 3.2The Discourse-Historical Approach to CDA
  • 4.The BNP-UKIP Corpus
  • 5.The In-Group Analysis: The BNP and UKIP
    • 5.1Forms of self-reference
    • 5.2Unique competence
    • 5.3Denial of attributes
    • 5.4Mutual perceptions
  • 6.The Out-Group Analysis: Immigration
    • 6.1Naming immigrants and the purpose of attribution
    • 6.2Legal status
    • 6.3Quantification
    • 6.4Origin
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 11 December 2015
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.14.4.02eng
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