Researching normalised hate speech: Tracing borderline discourse logics and public sphere dynamics through a critical and interdisciplinary approach

This Introduction sets out the critical and interdisciplinary approach to normalised hate speech developed across this special issue. It shifts attention from identifiable instances of hate to the discursive processes through which exclusionary meanings become familiar, legitimate and ordinary in public discourse. Drawing on Critical Discourse Studies and related qualitative, corpus-based and computational approaches, the eight contributions examine how normalisation develops through repetition, recontextualisation, borderline discourse and changing conditions of legitimacy across political discourse, news media, social media and digital platforms. The special issue argues that researching normalised hate speech requires attention not only to what is said, but also to the historical, political and communicative conditions through which exclusionary meanings acquire legitimacy and social acceptance.