Glossary of basic concepts in socio-cultural studies of populism

Tertium, 2020

International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, 2020

This article interrogates dominant definitions of "populism" found in the social sciences, focusing on the term's conceptual utility in understanding recent changes in Western polities. Though populism is typically treated as a deviant form of politics, this article finds that it in fact holds remarkable continuities with conventional politics, and indeed culture more generally. It argues that these more general cultural processes can be illuminated by cultural sociology, just as the more specific but still routine political processes can be illuminated by civil sphere theory (CST). The article goes on to argue that when populism is understood as a formal mode of public signification, rather than a substantive ideology, the substance it signifies becomes crucial to determining its civility. It suggests that while populism can certainly have anti-civil effects, there is nothing inherent in it that precludes it from also acting to promote civil repair.

Political Discourses at the Extremes: Expressions of Populism in Romance Speaking Countries, 2019

Partecipazione e Conflitto, 2020

The article presents the relational, socio-cultural approach to populism, also referred to by some as "performative". The approach claims phenomenological validity cross-regionally and is complex enough to provide a theory of populism and its subjective logic, while minimal enough to be used handily by other scholars. Populism is not a set of decontesting ideas or "ideology", but a way of being and acting in politics, embodying in discourse and praxis the culturally popular and "from here", in an antagonistic and mobilizational way against its opposite, together with personalism as a concrete mode of authority. Defined in the most synthetic way, populism is the flaunting of what I typologically call the "low". I also argue that civilizational projects of different kinds create a distasteful "unpresentable other"; populists then claim that this Other is nothing less than the true Self of the nation, its "authentic" people, d...

Global Studies Quarterly, 2022

As a consequence of its performative turn, the critical literature on populism has dedicated increasing attention to its sociocultural and stylistic features. Among the most prominent concepts underpinning this approach is the notion that populism relies on the "flaunting of the low" or the use of "bad manners." This article engages in an extensive discussion of the way this concept is used in the literature and showcases its main limitations. In replacement, I then suggest the alternative concept of transgression, understood as the violation of a norm, which has the substantial advantages of being more flexible and versatile as well as less reliant on a normative binary. I then develop an associated typology of transgressive performances depending on which type of norms is being disrupted: transgressions of interactional norms, transgressions of rhetoric norms, and transgressions of theatrical norms. Following this, I showcase how this typology contributes to the IR literature by emphasizing the importance of agency and embodied performances in global politics. This article concludes on the potential of considering transgression beyond populism.

Debats

Populism is a topic that has been widely studied over the past decades but mostly from a political perspective. These contributions mainly focus on the analysis of populism as a (socio) political phenomenon placed in a historical, global context. A second field of interest covers the mass appeal of populist parties. The latter is not only a timely, highly relevant issue right now but also sheds light on the flaws of liberal democracy. While a lot of academic effort has been put into defining populism and explaining the reasons for its success, the underlying cultural beliefs on which populist 'us and them" dichotomies are based remain unclear. We shall therefore come up with a typology of culture and populism. This typology will reveal how various aspects of culture (such as popular culture, cultural images, and literary works) are prevalent in the populist construction of 'us' and 'them'. Based on examples from France and The Netherlands (two countries with major right-wing populist parties), the typology will differentiate between sociofacts, mentifacts and artifacts (cf. Huxley), and their use and appropriation by populist actors. The artifacts category comprises what I call 'organic authors' and 'appropriated authors' , a terminology borrowed from Gramsci. The difference between the two, as will be shown, is the author's identification with and articulation of certain kinds of ideas.

2019

it aims to uncover what is familiar and distinctive about manifestations of populism around the globe.

2018

Book of Abstracts of the International Conference "Words, Images and Ideology of Populism 3.0" (University of Naples "L'Orientale", February 23-24, 2018)

Yearbook of Research in English and American Literature The Return of the Aesthetic in American Studies, 2019

In this essay, I continue my study of the aesthetics of populism against the backdrop of the larger politico-cultural process of polarization. I argue that in the U.S. of the last four decades, polarization has produced two complementary sets of affects and aesthetics. On the one hand, liberal culture is expressive of a position of superiority, not because it is elitist, but because it is committed to defending institutions and standards. Its paradigmatic form of expression is the „superiority humor“ found in the satirical repertoires of late-night talk shows. On the other side of the divide, populist culture inhabits a position of inferiority. Its aesthetics of resentment—which I analyze as an „aesthetics of the middle finger“—is driven by the desire to level the playing field and to topple the established order. Paradigmatic examples include both the rallies of Donald Trump and the standup comedy of Nick DiPaolo. In the final analysis, then, this article argues that populism cannot be understood as an isolated phenomenon. It only becomes meaningful within the bigger picture of a politically, culturally — and hence aesthetically — polarized society.

Geographical Literacy and European Heritage: A Challenging Convention in the field of Education., 2019

This article claims that current forms of right-wing populism in Europe are more likely to be mainstreamed by their political leaders and parties through the insertion of a set of welfare items, culturalist and civilizational discourses, and Islamophobic communication strategies. The main premise of this paper is that the ongoing social-political-economic-financial change in the EU resulting in fear against the unknown such as Islam, Muslims, refugees and migrants is likely to be turned by individual agents into cultural/religious/civilizational reification and political radicalization in order to overcome fear. The findings of this paper derive from a qualitative fieldwork held within the framework of a Horizon 2020 Research Project called “Critical Heritages (CoHERE): performing and representing identities in Europe”. The fieldwork was held the research team in Dresden, Toulon, Rome, Rotterdam, Athens and Istanbul between March and May 2017. Available at http://www.solvatech.com.cy/books/ebook_COHERE_ipad_2018.pdf