Citizenship and Acculturation as Contested Argumentative Frames: Negotiating Socio‐Political and Cultural Belonging in the Talk of NGO Workers in Greece

This study advances an understanding of citizenship and acculturation as dilemmatic frames that are shaped by and provide situated argumentative resources for constructing belonging while managing intergroup power dynamics. It documents how Greek NGO workers may draw on these resources to negotiate and make sense of non‐dominant cultural groups' socio‐political and cultural inclusion/exclusion and to achieve particular interactional goals. Analysis draws on a broader data pool of 49 semi‐structured interviews, specifically focusing on the talk of seven Greek NGO workers involved in supporting movers. A critical discursive socio‐psychological (CDSP) approach was implemented for the analysis of this data subset, indicating four central argumentative lines. The first positions movers as a ‘special case’, subtly legitimising segmented assimilation and selective state support. The second shifts the focus to non‐dominant groups' cultural participation as a matter of individual choice, emphasising movers' agency for voluntary engagement with dominant norms. The third negotiates acculturation, approaching multiculturalism as parallel coexistence and cultural independence, thereby managing emerging nationalist dilemmas. The last projects conditional multiculturalism, where integration depends on commitment to settle, constituting inclusion as procedural while managing newcomers' perceived liminality. Emerging dilemmas and power differentials underlying constructions of citizenship and cultural participation are discussed, highlighting their potential to reinforce and/or challenge inclusion, and pointing to self‐reflective, rights‐based approaches.