The Arrival of Refugees in Portugal In 2015 – Contrasting Glances in Social Networks of Portuguese Media Towards the "Crisis"

Abstract

The latest conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa have caused the flight of an unusual number of people heading for Europe. This phenomenon, which was reported in the European media several times, created a set of antagonistic feelings towards refugees, solidarity, and humanitarianism, on the one hand, hostility on the other. This research aims to investigate the social representations in comments made in a set of news about the arrival of refugees in Lisbon, shared on the Facebook social network by some Portuguese media. The results indicate that, despite the public expression of solidarity with which Portugal is associated, there remains in the context of the social network under analysis, a hostility towards refugees, attributing certain behaviors based on simplistic interpretations with some stereotypes.