The use of identity-related frames in electoral pledges and its effects on Euroscepticism in France and Germany
| Published date | 01 September 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14651165231152378 |
| Date | 01 September 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
The use of identity-related
frames in electoral pledges
and its effects on
Euroscepticism in France
and Germany
Natalia Bogado
Communication and Media Psychology Institute, Faculty of
Psychology, University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany
Evelyn Bytzek
Department of Political Sciences, Faculty of Cultural and Social
Sciences, University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany
Melanie C Steffens
Department of Social, Environmental & Economic Psychology,
Faculty of Psychology, University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany
Abstract
National identification strength is a key Euroscepticism driver. We examine how politicians’
framing of immigration policies increases the salience of different national identity represen-
tations and its relationship with support for the European Union (EU) in a two-waves
between-subject survey-experiment using French and German samples. As predicted,
exposure to assimilation frames (directly for the French sample or via frame perception
for both samples) increased the salience of ethnocultural national identity representations.
Additionally, as hypothesised, higher ethnocultural representations salience following
assimilation frames exposure was related to higher Euroscepticism. However, feeling emo-
tionally attached to the EU reduced this negative impact of ethnocultural national identity
representations on EU attitudes. We discuss the role of ethnocultural nationalism in
Euroscepticism and the importance of fostering stronger emotional ties to the EU.
Corresponding author:
Natalia Bogado, Faculty of Psychology, University of Koblenz-Landau, Fortstrasse 7, Building H, Room 313,
Landau in der Pfalz 76829, Germany.
Email: bogado@uni-landau.de
Article
European Union Politics
2023, Vol. 24(3) 516–538
© The Author(s) 2023
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/14651165231152378
journals.sagepub.com/home/eup
Keywords
European Union, Euroscepticism, framing effects, national identity representations,
political communication
In June 2016, the United Kingdom (UK) voted to leave the European Union (EU or
Union) in what became known in the media as Brexit. After a campaign where the
issue of immigration was highly salient, the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and the
anti-EU factions of the Conservative Party were able to turn fears over national-identity
loss and immigration into anti-EU votes (Goodwin and Milazzo, 2017). Also in the rest of
Europe, political elites and the media have conflated nationalism and immigration con-
cerns in their discourses on the EU almost since the inception of the Union (Lesin
́ska,
2014). Thus, the Brexit campaign was the highest point in a long trend of framing EU
admission policies in assimilation terms that emphasise the threat that the admission of
immigrants and refugees poses to national cultures, norms and values. In this sense,
Brexit laid bare how framing immigration and asylum in identity-related terms promotes
national identity salience in ways that increase Euroscepticism –defined as a range of
critical positions or outright opposition towards the EU (Taggart and Szczerbiak, 2001).
In light of these events, understanding how the use of identity-related frames –fre-
quent among EU politicians (Helbling, 2012) –affects Euroscepticism is crucial. This
study aims to expand this area of research through an experiment that investigates how
exposure to assimilation versus multicultural frames (used by politicians in a real elect-
oral campaign) is related to individual Euroscepticism. Specifically, we examine three
crucial aspects of anti-EU sentiment: opposition to EU integration, identification with
the EU, and the intention to vote to leave the EU.
We test the effects of exposure to identity-related frames across three treatment con-
ditions: two non-competitive ones where participants are exposed to either assimilation or
multicultural frames, and a third competitive condition where –resembling a real-life
campaign setting –participants are exposed to both frames simultaneously (Matthes
and Schemer, 2012).
France and Germany are the two largest EU economies; their exit from the Union
would have devastating consequences on its continuity. It follows that public support
for the EU in these countries is paramount to its stability. As the use of assimilation
and multicultural frames in media and political discourses increases in both countries
(Helbling, 2012), this study investigates how exposure to these identity-related frames
affects EU attitudes among French and German citizens.
In support of our hypotheses, exposure to assimilation frames (directly for the French
sample or via frame perception for both samples) increased the salience of ethnocultural
national identity representations. Additionally, as hypothesised, higher ethnocultural
representations salience following assimilation frames exposure was related to higher
Euroscepticism. However, feeling emotionally attached to the EU reduced this negative
impact of ethnocultural national identity representations on EU attitudes. At the outset,
we discuss the role of ethnocultural nationalism in Euroscepticism and the importance
of fostering stronger emotional ties to the EU.
Bogado et al. 517
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