%0 Journal Article
%T MAKING THE WHITE FOLK ANGRY:THE MEDIA, ¡°RACE¡± AND ELECTORAL POLITICS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM IN 2010
%A David Bates
%J PLATFORM : Journal of Media and Communication
%D 2011
%I University of Melbourne
%X This article examines the broadcast and press media¡¯s role in promoting a new ¡°xeno-racism¡± (Fekete, 2001) and the re-emergence of an exclusivist ¡°white¡± identity which, it is argued, came to the fore in the period leading up to the 2010 general election in the UK. It argues that there is a strong interplay between elements of the popular media and leading politicians which serves to reproduce essentialising and exclusionary discourses underpinned by specific ideas about ¡°race¡± and nation. The article focuses particularly on the repeated use of the category ¡°white working class¡± which features heavily in debates around immigration and national security. In doing so, it will attempt to trace the roots of this ¡°hegemonic whiteness¡± (Hughey, 2010) and locate its position in wider social, political and economic contexts, including the growing racialisation of Muslims, the previous Labour government¡¯s desire to appear ¡°tough¡± on immigration and its preoccupation with combating extremism and fighting the ¡°War on Terror¡± (Saeed, 2004; Kundnani, 2007).
%U http://journals.culture-communication.unimelb.edu.au/platform/v3i1_bates.html