This study aimed to examine how social representations of modern slavery and immigration become entangled in newspaper media. 2672 UK newspaper articles were collated from 2013 to 2022 and analysed using Content Analysis (Descendant Hierarchical Classification) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Two themes and corresponding extracts were identified from the content analysis output and analysed using CDA allowing for the exploration of the role of the hegemonic social representations to understanding how discourses of modern slavery are reproduced through the othering in relation to ethnicity and migration. The two themes that emerged were ‘Leading the way in tackling slavery’ and ‘Making claims.’ The themes combined showed how the media and political discourse positioned the UK government as leading the way in tackling modern slavery. Simultaneously, discourses criminalized migrants and constructed them as the source of social harm, and the obstacles to resolving the social injustices were those opposing anti‐immigration legislation. These two contradictory positions have implications in how modern slavery is understood by the public. More worryingly, it could lead to silence from victims due to the threat of being criminalized.

中文翻译：

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“我们这个时代最大的不公正之一”：现代奴隶制的社会表征对英国的影响——一种混合方法。


本研究旨在检验现代奴隶制和移民的社会表现如何与报纸媒体纠缠不清。从 2013 年到 2022 年，整理了 2672 篇英国报纸文章，并使用内容分析（后代分层分类）和批判性话语分析 （CDA） 进行了分析。从内容分析结果中确定了两个主题和相应的摘录，并使用 CDA 进行了分析，从而探索了霸权社会表征的作用，以理解现代奴隶制的话语如何通过与种族和移民相关的他者化来复制。出现的两个主题是“引领解决奴隶制问题”和“提出索赔”。这些主题结合在一起，展示了媒体和政治话语如何将英国政府定位为解决现代奴隶制的领导地位。同时，话语将移民定罪，并将他们构建为社会伤害的根源，解决社会不公正的障碍是那些反对反移民立法的人。这两个相互矛盾的立场对公众如何理解现代奴隶制产生了影响。更令人担忧的是，由于面临被定罪的威胁，它可能导致受害者保持沉默。