Social Representations of (Im)migrants in the First Year of the Covid-19 Pandemic in Brazil: A Study of Online News

Andréia Isabel Giacomozzi; Annamaria Silvana de Rosa; Mariana Luiza Becker da Silva; Flavia Gizzi; Vitor de Sena Moraes

Andréia Isabel Giacomozzi Laboratory of Social Psychology of Communication and Cognition (LACCOS), Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis, Brazil
Annamaria Silvana de Rosa Sapienza University of Rome, Social Representations and Communication Multimedia Lab & Research Centre, Rome, Italy
Mariana Luiza Becker da Silva Laboratory of Social Psychology of Communication and Cognition (LACCOS), Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis, Brazil
Flavia Gizzi Laboratory of Social Psychology of Communication and Cognition (LACCOS), Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis, Brazil
Vitor de Sena Moraes Laboratory of Social Psychology of Communication and Cognition (LACCOS), Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis, Brazil

Keywords: Social representations, covid-19; immigrants; Brazil; newspapers; social media.

Abstract

Interested in dialogical and modelling approaches to social representations and communication dynamics, we investigated social representations of (im)migrants constructed in a period and context of intense social vulnerability, the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil (February to December 2020). We explored media communication not simply as the unidirectional transmission of collective beliefs to the Brazilian public, but as social representations co-constructed by citizens and expressed in the comments that they posted on social media. We collected data online and constructed two textual corpora. The first corpus included 134 news articles selected with the search terms ‘immigrants’ or ‘refugees’ and ‘Covid-19’. The second corpus included 1295 comments written by the readers of the mentioned articles and posted on the newspapers’ Facebook pages, which we considered a special interactive space for expressing, sharing, and co-constructing social representations. We analyzed the data using the Descending Hierarchical Analysis and Similarity Analysis provided by the software IRaMuTeQ. The results show social dynamics of argumentative polarization about (im)migrants framed in the geo-political Brazilian context at the time of the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. Our case study exemplifies how a context of crisis can reinforce the polarization of existing social representations of (im)migrants in Brazil. We discuss this polarization as an ‘echo chamber’ of informational polarization and fake news contributing to misinformation about Covid-19 worldwide, showing how political decisions may increase xenophobia or facilitate social dialogue.

Keywords: Social representations, covid-19; immigrants; Brazil; online newspapers; Facebook.

Author Biographies

Andréia Isabel Giacomozzi, Laboratory of Social Psychology of Communication and Cognition (LACCOS), Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis, Brazil

Ph.D. Professor at the Postgraduate Program of Psychology (PPGP) and at the Department of Psychology of the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) - Florianópolis, Brazil; member of the Laboratory of Social Psychology of Communication and Cognition (LACCOS). Her fields of teaching and research are Social Psychology, Social Representations and Group Processes and Intergroup Relations. Her research interests have regarded and still regard the following fields: social psychology of interpersonal relations, mainly in political polarization; violence; and health prevention behaviors; Visiting Professor at Università degli Studi di Padova (UNIPD), 2019. Professor at the International Joint PhD in Social Representation, Culture and Communication, Sapienza.

Annamaria Silvana de Rosa, Sapienza University of Rome, Social Representations and Communication Multimedia Lab & Research Centre, Rome, Italy

ANNAMARIA SILVANA DE ROSA is Full Professor of Social Representations and Communication at Sapienza” University of Rome, Italy. Founder and Director of the European/International Joint PhD in Social Representations and Communication(http://www.europhd.eu), she has been project leader of 70 hypercompetitive international projects. Invited as visiting professor and awarded of Doctorate Honoris, of Emeritus and Adjunct Professor by many Universities worldwide, among more than 700 scientific contributions one of her books inspired by her “modeling” approach is "Social Representations in the social Arena", covering in various thematic areas (Routledge, 2013). Other publications concern distinct forms of internationalization of doctoral education and innovative Digital Libraries, as creator of the SoReCom'A.S.deRosa'@-library.

Mariana Luiza Becker da Silva, Laboratory of Social Psychology of Communication and Cognition (LACCOS), Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis, Brazil

Mariana Luiza Becker DA SILVA is a PhD Student at Postgraduate Program of Psychology (PPGP) of the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) - Florianópolis, Brazil; member of the Laboratory of Social Psychology of Communication and Cognition (LACCOS).

Flavia Gizzi, Laboratory of Social Psychology of Communication and Cognition (LACCOS), Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis, Brazil

Flavia GIZZI is an undergraduate Psychology student at Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) - Florianópolis, Brazil;

Vitor de Sena Moraes, Laboratory of Social Psychology of Communication and Cognition (LACCOS), Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis, Brazil

Vitor de Sena MORAES is an undergraduate Psychology student at Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) - Florianópolis, Brazil;