The Image of Male Immigrant in Radical Right Parties' Discourses: A Case Study on the French National Front

Based on a qualitative study (semi-structured interviews with party executives, analysis of public speeches, parties’ programmes) and using iconographical analysis of party posters, this paper describes the construction of the threatening male immigrant in the discourse of the main French radical right party “Front National” in the recent years. Analyzing how the otherness is constructed offers ways of understanding the symbolic boundaries of the national community drawn.

Immigration is criticized for three reasons: immigrants come from specific cultural backgrounds which cannot be integrated into the French one, male immigrants especially are connected to delinquency and represent a threat for the welfare state.

Their cultural background is principally characterized by religion. FN leaders draw a strong –often implicit- link between immigration and a risk of “islamization” of the French society. If FN executives avoid direct criticism, Muslims are associated to “communitarianism” and events from the news are used to stigmatize them. Those immigrants cannot be assimilated and hence represents a threat for national identity, and for European culture defined by Christian legacy.

Male immigrants are related to insecurity and “gang leader”, systematically associated to poor suburbs subjugated by delinquency. Legacy of colonialism and animalization can also be observed since male immigrants are described as primitives, brutal, uncivilized people living in “ghettos” dominated by the “law of the jungle”. Since the leadership of the new president, this image has been reinforced by a criticism of their authoritarianism and violence against women in order to reach new women voters.

Unemployed, benefiting from social and health assistance, ready to welcome their families and many children, male immigrants are taking advantage of the French welfare state. Based on an opposition to cosmopolitism and multiculturalism, the risks of being dominated by an overwhelming number of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers are constantly dramatized in FN discourse.