Social Representations and Emotion Narratives About Ethnic Minorities in Portugal and Italy Through the Lens of Populism

This paper analyses social representations and emotions associated with ethnic minorities in Portugal and Italy, aiming to understand how these are symbolically constructed and emotionally experienced in sociopolitical contexts with different levels of consolidation of radical right populism. It draws on Social Representations Theory, following Abric’s (2001) structural approach, and on emotion narratives, conceptualised as a heuristic construct that articulates collective and enduring emotions around the symbolic relationship between deep and surface social objects (Gianolla, 2022, 2025; Gianolla et al., 2024). Emotions were operationalised using the Geneva Emotion Wheel (GEW). A mixed-methods design was employed, combining free word association and self-report questionnaires administered to representative samples in both countries (N = 1,010 in Portugal; N = 890 in Italy). Data were analysed using EVOC and SPSS. Findings reveal ambivalences in both contexts. In Portugal, minorities are predominantly represented in relational and empathetic terms, indicating a tendency to value inclusion and social recognition, associated with higher levels of respect. However, these coexist with perceptions linked to dependence on social benefits and “free-riding,” primarily associated with anger. In Italy, social representations of minorities are markedly more negative and moralised, reflecting a greater normalisation of rejection and dehumanisation, also primarily associated with anger. Statistically significant differences were found in the intensity of emotions evoked in each country: positive emotions predominate in Portugal, whereas negative emotions predominate in Italy. Cross-analysis of emotions and social representations identified the symbolic structures underpinning each type of affective response, in line with the concept of emotion narratives. Emotions play a central role in the symbolic legitimation of exclusion or inclusion in contexts shaped by populist discourses. The study concludes that the symbolic framing of minorities and the circulating emotion narratives in each country are bidirectionally articulated.