Symbolic Structure of Adjustment. A Descriptive Proposal Through Six Cases of Migration Covered in Media

Abstract

In this study, we propose a descriptive analysis of qualitative nature to establish elements of convergence on certain discourses around migration from one of the concepts raised by the sociologist Manuel Antonio Baeza: symbolic adjustment structure. The irruption of new discourses and ideas about migrations is determined from its dissemination on the media and its impact on intersubjectivity. The mass media act as transmitters of social meanings, providing representations of reality that emanate from the socially shared imaginary. Thus, this proposal is interested in the relevance of the concept of “symbolic adjustment structure” for the investigation of migration from the fields of social significance -representations and imaginaries- conveyed in the press. The main objectives of the study are the detection of representations and imaginaries and the proposal of the symbolic structure of adjustment to explain the migratory social reality. This qualitative article focuses on six cases that have been dealt with on media platforms. A sample of news selected from Latin American, North American, and European written communication media and agencies was analyzed through the operationalization of the framing theory by analysis with MAXQDA and content analysis. The findings show that the symbolic structure of adjustment in relation to migration is constituted from an imaginary of fear and interiorizing of otherness; at the same time, these imaginaries nurture social representations that relate immigrants with negativity, problems, and irregularity.