On Populist ReasonWhat are the political logics explaining the spread of populist experiences in the contemporary world? What is involved in constructing the idea of the people? And how does this construction relate to other forms of political subjectivity -- classes, corporations and other forms of association? Laclau's analysis of populist experiences begins with a critique of current approaches to populism, illustrated by two essential cases: the formation of a popular identity in French Jacobinism, and the dissolution of such an identity in the aftermath of British Chartism. This is followed by a discussion of the classical theories of mass psychology -- by Le Bon, Tarde, Freud, etc. -- and of the role of the lumpenproletariat in Marx's work. Finally Laclau examines a series of historical examples of populism, drawn mainly from American, Canadian, Argentinian and Turkish experiences |
Contents
| 3 | |
| 21 | |
| 31 | |
| 65 | |
| 67 | |
Floating Signifiers and Social Heterogeneity | 129 |
Populism Representation and Democracy | 157 |
POPULIST VARIATIONS | 173 |
The Saga of Populism | 175 |
Obstacles and Limits to the Construction of the People | 200 |
Concluding Remarks | 223 |
Notes | 251 |
Index | 269 |
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Common terms and phrases
actual alternative analysis approach articulation asserts associated attempt becomes called central clear common conceived concept concerning constitution construction course crowd demands democracy democratic described determination differential discourse discussion distinction effects elements emergence empty signifier entirely equivalence equivalential equivalential chain established example existing expression fact forces Freud frontier fullness function give given going hegemonic heterogeneous historical idea identification identity ideological important individual instance institutional internal involves Italy kind latter leader less limits logic Marxism mass means move movement nature notion object operation opposition organized partial particular Party political popular popular identities populism populist position possible present purely question radical reason refer relation representation represented requires result rhetoric role seen sense signifier simply situation social society starting structure struggle symbolic theory thing tion tradition unity universal whole Žižek
Popular passages
Page 201 - We meet in the midst of a nation brought to the verge of moral, political and material ruin.
Page 37 - This especially holds good with injurious characters which tend to reappear through reversion, such as blackness in sheep; and with mankind some of the worst dispositions, which occasionally without any assignable cause make their appearance in families, may perhaps be reversions to a savage state, from which we are not removed by very many generations.
Page 56 - A primary group of this kind is a number of individuals who have put one and the same object in the place of their ego ideal and have consequently identified themselves with one another in their ego.
Page 201 - The urban workmen are denied the right of organization for self-protection; imported pauperized labor beats down their wages; a hireling standing army, unrecognized by our laws, is established to shoot them down, and they are rapidly degenerating into European conditions.
Page 27 - I had undertaken a task of more difficulty than I had imagined. While my care was employed in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by another ; habit took the advantage of inattention ; inclination was sometimes too strong for reason. I concluded, at length, that the mere speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely virtuous was not sufficient to prevent our slipping; and that the contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and established, before we can...
Page 201 - The national power to create money is appropriated to enrich bondholders; a vast public debt payable in legal-tender currency has been funded into gold-bearing bonds, thereby adding millions to the burdens of the people. "Silver, which has been accepted as coin since the dawn of history, has been demonetized to add to the purchasing power of gold by decreasing the value of all forms of property as well as human labor, and the supply of currency is purposely abridged to fatten usurers, bankrupt enterprises,...
Page 55 - . . .With a young man's sentimental passion, the ego becomes more and more unassuming and modest, and the object more and more sublime and precious, until at last it gets possession of the entire self-love of the ego, whose self-sacrifice thus follows as a natural consequence.
Page 22 - The power of words is bound up with the images they evoke, and is quite independent of their real significance. Words whose sense is the most ill-defined are sometimes those that possess the most influence. Such, for example, are the terms democracy, socialism, equality, liberty, etc., whose meaning is so vague that bulky volumes do not suffice to precisely fix it. Yet it is certain that a truly magical power is attached to those short syllables, as if they contained the solution of all problems....
References to this book
Logics of Critical Explanation in Social and Political Theory Jason Glynos,David R. Howarth No preview available - 2007 |
Politics on the Edges of Liberalism: Difference, Populism, Revolution, Agitation Benjamín Arditi No preview available - 2007 |
Bibliographic information
| Title | On Populist Reason Phronesis Series |
| Author | Ernesto Laclau |
| Edition | reprint |
| Publisher | Verso, 2005 |
| ISBN | 1859846513, 9781859846513 |
| Length | 276 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |