Snikislamisering: samfunnsproblem eller velgerfrieri? : En diskursanalytisk analyse Syv [sic] Jensens kronikk "Dette er snikislamisering" publisert i VG høsten 2019

Abstract

The subject of this master's thesisis Siv Jensen's chronicle with the title "This is sneak-Islamization", publishedin VG on 2 September2019. Siv Jensen,who is currently the leader ofFrPand Minister of Finance, used the concept " sneak-Islamization" for the first time on the national meeting of FrP in 2009. The concept led to many reactions from media, public figures and the opposition. The event has also caused turmoil and the publishing of the chronicle occurred a few days after the party colleague Sylvi Listhaug had published a controversial post on her Facebook page and a few days before the local elections campaign in 2019. Siv Jensen was accused of instrumentalizing the Muslim religious group in the process of political marketing, while the politician claimed that she only presents real social conditions. Based on Habermas`s distinctionbetween communicative and strategic action,this analysis tries to establish what the purpose of the chronicle could have been, more precisely whether it aimed to obtain a strategical advantage in connection with the local elections of 2019 or to start a debate around a social challenge. In addition, this analysis has a goal to expose the possible ideological aspects expressed in the Jensen's chronicle. The analyticframework is based on Fairclough’stridimensional discourse analysis model. The model consists of an analysis of social events, of social practices and of social structures. The analysis uses theories about symbolic power, rhetorical theory, theories about the discursive practice of the right-wing populism, framing theory, media theory, identity politics theory and stigma theory.The approach to the text is discourse theoretical and hermeneutic, and the research method is qualitative with focus on the text. The analysis discusses the genreto which the text belongs and, through linguistic analysis, it reveals the stylistic, rhetorical and discursive devices that form the foundation for the present interpretation. Thisanalysis also explains the social practices for which the event is representative: the discourse practices of the right-wing populism, the media politics practices, the identity politics practices and the stigma practices. The social practices for which the chronicle is thought to be representative are analyzed in relation with the structural preconditions and which this analysis considers to be: the transitions from an industrial to a post-industrial society, the de-politicization of the media, elitist tendencies in politics, media commercialization, and the national state. The findings show that there are reasons to consider the event a strategic action and, to a certain degree, a communicative action. The findings also show that the text of the chronicle also expresstoideologies, one being right-wing populism and the other nationalism.