The Political Context of Migration in the UK

Abstract

This chapter considers the societal response to the arrival in the UK of significant numbers of Roma Gypsies from East and Central Europe in recent years through the framework of Imogen Tyler's (2013) ‘social abjection' concept. In particular the chapter examines the relations between media and political discourses surrounding Roma migrants in the context of growing anti-EU sentiment on one hand and a parallel critique of multiculturalism on the other in order to examine the role and function that the Roma have played in these debates. The interplay between these different fields of discourse draws on a ‘consensus of disgust' that affirms social boundaries and creates physical, social and moral distance from ‘Others' considered as ‘polluting' and of less worth. The promotion and incitement of disgust as a mechanism of governance serves wider political and ideological objectives while also inhibiting the potential of social integration strategies, restricting the inclusionary potential of such policies and the assimilation of Roma populations.