Symbolic boundaries and the negative classifications of the ‘Successful Other’ at the intersection of ethnicity, religion, gender, and refugeeness

Autor(en)

Ana Mijic, Michael Parzer

Abstrakt

Our paper focuses on how members of the national ingroup respond when confronted with ‘successful others’ who challenge prevailing perceptions of immigrants and national belonging. We empirically investigate this through a case study on Alma Zadić, Austria’s Minister of Justice since January 2020. Her non-Austrian origin initiated a heated public debate on the legitimacy of an immigrant or refugee holding one of the country’s most important political positions. We analyse public discourse using interpretive analysis of online newspaper forum comments, employing the symbolic boundaries approach combined with the concept of negative classifications. The results reveal the cultural repertoires that members of the arrival society make use of when they negatively categorise an alleged newcomer of taking up a position that is considered exclusively reserved for the established. We contribute to the cultural sociology of social inequality and advocate for greater consideration of the intersectional entanglement of symbolic boundaries.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Soziologie

Journal

European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology

Band

11

Seiten

558-584

Anzahl der Seiten

27

ISSN

2325-4815

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/23254823.2024.2335164

Publikationsdatum

2024

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

504001 Allgemeine Soziologie

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Cultural Studies, Sociology and Political Science

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 16 – Frieden, Gerechtigkeit und starke Institutionen

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/c17348ed-5cf0-499d-a38c-a77be378a216