Den brittiska identitetskrisen - En kritisk diskursanalys av nationell och europeisk identitet

Sammanfattning: What happens to a country’s identity when it leaves a union it has belonged to for 40 years? In the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum the results was a tight call between leave and remain and the result indicates a split in the British public. The study analysis how national identity and European identity is portrayed in the connection to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union and how it portrays the post-Brexit future. The study uses a three-dimensional critical discourse analysis developed by Norman Fairclough. Together with a social constructivism theory the study analysis the editorial pieces in two national British newspapers, The Guardian and The Telegraph, to understand how the identity discourses have been portrayed to the public. The results show that there are big differences in the portrayal where the national identity both is considered to thrive and diminish. Where a European identity is considered both as blended together and separated from the national identity.