5. Discussion
According to Van Dijk, racist texts present the Other as the agents of negative predicates, and the dominant group as agents of positive predicates (1991, p.58). The fact that, seven of eight of the propositions in The Express present a similar structure to Van Dijk’s, implies that it is probably a racist text. Moreover, in accordance with Van Dijk’s theory, both articles represent the dominant group as responsible of positive predicates. In contrast, none of the propositions of The Sunday Times have a negative representation of the Other. In this case, the Other is presented as the agent of positive or neutral actions in six propositions. Furthermore, the dominant group is described as agent of negative actions. Indeed, there are two propositions with a negative representation of the…show more content… Consequently, The Sunday Times does not seem to present a racist discourse. As have been noted, The Express includes negative descriptions of the Other, while the dominant group is always positively portrayed. According to Van Dijk, “the overall characteristic of such racist discourse is the negative portrayal of Them … [and] a positive representation of Ourselves” (2004, p.352). Therefore, The Express presents a racist discourse. Moreover, both articles in The Express are considered to present a topic of threat due to their lexical style. In particular, the use of words as invasion, and anarchy, describe the Other as a threat to the dominant group. On the other hand, The Sunday Times’ articles do not fit under Van Dijk’s terms. Moreover, in The Sunday Times, its lexical style again demonstrates that they do not present a racist discourse. For instances, both articles include significant phrases as asylum seekers, or global crisis, that
