Frank Furedi on the Spirit of Populism

Discussion

Frank Furedi:

"he spirit of populism summed up Outwardly the spirit of populism appears as a backlash against the cultural politics of society’s elites. To be sure this spirit communicates sentiments that are hostile to cultural politics that seek to undermine the consciousness of nation, and which extoll the supposed virtues of multiculturalism, diversity, mass migration and gender ideology. However, the populist zeitgeist is not simply a negative rejection of the identity obsessed outlook of the managerial technocratic elites.

The spirit of populism celebrates the sense of belonging offered by communities that are organically linked to the past. It is driven by an egalitarian impulse, which its opponents mistakenly interpret as simply anti-elitist and anti-pluralist. One of the most penetrating account of the spirit of populism is provided by Arthur Borriello, Jean-Yves Pranchėre and Pierre-Étienne Vandamme.[vii] These authors characterize populism as ‘an egalitarian impulse against oligarchic tendencies, centered on anti-elitism and the defense of a democratic common sense’.[viii] They note that this egalitarian impulse is ‘mainly defensive-reactive in nature and rooted in a democratic commonsense, rather than in a fully-fledged ideological worldview aiming at the establishment of a radically new social order’.

The spirit of populism encourages the valuation of democratic common sense which conveys the belief that citizens possess the capacity to judge issues and policies that concern them. Populism’s affirmation of common sense is not ideological. It represents a taken-for-granted assumption that affirms the common experience – past and present – on which the sensibility of common sense is constructed.

The sense of community belonging is the most important sentiment motivating contemporary populists. This sensibility of local or national patriotism is expressed through an attachment to national sovereignty. From the standpoint of national populism, sovereignty is significant for two reasons. First, because it provides the largest terrain that humankind has discovered so far where democratic accountability can be exercised and have real meaning. Popular sovereignty can occur within a local community, a city or a nation – but it cannot be exercised in a territory larger than the nation. National sovereignty is also regarded as essential because it provides a context for the cultivation of a real, felt identity. There are other possible ways for people to develop their identities, but for most people the nation constitutes the largest area within which their identity can be forged and gain real purchase.

Since the 1980s attitudes associated with the spirit of populism have been systematically disparaged and demonised by the ruling classes and their cultural institutions. To ensure that they retained cultural hegemony they sought to marginalise dissident views in the media and institutions of culture and education. Since the turn of the century, they have also assumed control over the use of public language which served to silence those opposed to the outlook of the cosmopolitan managerial-technocratic regime."

(https://frankfuredi.substack.com/p/the-vibe-shift-explored-and-the-spirit)