“Foreigners who come to live in Monaco are rich, but normal Monegasques are normal people”: Exploring how Monegasque citizens are constructed in entertainment documentaries about the super-rich in Monaco

Abstract

The Principality of Monaco presents an interesting case given its policies as a tax haven and limited access to citizenship. Discursive psychologists have found that citizenship discourse involves talk about effortfulness and good behaviour. Exploring the positioning of Monegasque people provides an opportunity to examine how citizenship is negotiated in an environment with high levels of wealth inequality. The data was comprised of a documentary series, Inside Monaco: Playground of the rich , broadcast in the UK. Discursive Psychology, a social constructionist approach, explored how psychological concepts such as identity were constructed. The analysis found a dilemmatic positioning of Monegasque people as both productive citizens and subjugated within an elitist hierarchy. Citizenship is warranted as a birth right that entitles people to state support to protect them from extreme inequality. The positioning of Monegasque people as ordinary in an extraordinary environment minimises the impact of super-rich migration and wealth inequality.

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