Summary: This article analyses how asylum seekers are constructed as an out-group in some of the narratives provided by practitioners who were interviewed as part of a wider research study of social workers’ discourses of asylum seekers. Findings: Using discursive psychology, the article identifies interpretative repertoires that were used by social workers in their formulations of asylum seekers as the other. The article explores the linguistic resources that were deployed in these formulations. Applications: The article highlights the potential contributions of discursive perspectives to social work research, teaching and practice as it illuminates the pivotal role that language plays within the profession in the construction of subjectivities, and specifically in relation to the protection, perpetuation and normalisation of discrimination. © 2014, © The Author(s) 2014.

Anti-oppressive practice Asylum seekers language discrimination Social work Discourse analysis

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