"Twelve angry men": Accounting for Britain's minority position during the EU summit in Maastricht

A numerical minority position is commonly associated with error, deviance, and/or weakness. Therefore, being a minority member poses a threat and minority members are urged to explain and account for their position. The present study has concentrated on how two British newspapers that strongly identified with the minority position taken by Britain at the European Union Maastricht summit in 1991 account for this position. The newspapers were analyzed in terms of how systems of social categorization are being constructed and the argumentative strategies used in identity construction. Various forms of discourse analysis focus on specific discursive devices and grammatical repertoires, whereas the present analysis shows the constellation of representations in identity construction. It is shown that the explanations draw upon a constellation of constructions and definitions that all work together in providing a justificatory account.