Who would identify with an "empty signifier"? : The relational, performative approach to populism

Book chapter


Ostiguy, Pierre and Moffitt, Benjamin. (2021). Who would identify with an "empty signifier"? : The relational, performative approach to populism. In In Ostiguy, Pierre, Panizza, Francisco and Moffitt, B. (Ed.). Populism in global perspective : A performative and discursive approach pp. 47-72 Routledge.
AuthorsOstiguy, Pierre and Moffitt, Benjamin
EditorsOstiguy, Pierre, Panizza, Francisco and Moffitt, B.
Abstract

[Excerpt] In the social sciences and humanities, Ernesto Laclau’s theory of populism has proven to be one of the most influential and seminal approaches to the phenomenon, spawning a body of literature that has both engaged with the conceptual claims made in his work, as well as applying it to cases from across the globe—an influence that has not just been limited to the halls of academia, but has also included the practice of left-populist politicians and parties in Latin America and Europe. This literature, to be sure, has not remained static, nor has Laclau’s theory remained uncritiqued and unchallenged, even by sympathetic authors who have followed in his wake.

Laclau’s approach from 1985 onward was clearly a product of the post-modern (and poststructuralist) discursive turn in circles of political theory. As such, Laclau eschewed his older original work, written from a solid Marxist analytic perspective. In doing so, Laclau ended up, in the process, equating sociological analysis with (historical) materialism, explicitly rejecting talk of social actors as objectively defined sociological categories, and, most certainly, social change as necessarily centred on a privileged “historical agent”. He embraced in any case the broad assumption that everything meaningful is discursively constructed—and conversely, that there is nothing meaningful outside of discourse. Yet something may have been lost in this shift: we want to argue in this chapter that one does not have to throw away the sociological baby with the bathwater, in the turn towards studying populism as a discourse. Instead, we would like to argue, from a more “in-between” though robust position, that the notion of “lived experience” stands exactly halfway between pure discursivism and objectivism, thus at the same time also reintroducing an embodied (and oft-times passionate) dimension that includes suffering, anger, envy, resentment, etc. Although Laclau and Mouffe have of course stressed the affective dimension of populism, we argue that in practice, identification is in fact only possible and effective at this crossroad of discourse and experience.

Page range47-72
Year2021
Book titlePopulism in global perspective : A performative and discursive approach
PublisherRoutledge
Place of publicationNew York, NY
SeriesConceptualising comparative politics
ISBN9780367626563
Publisher's version
License
All rights reserved
File Access Level
Controlled
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online30 Dec 2020
Publication process dates
Deposited21 Jun 2021
Permalink -

https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/8w41x/who-would-identify-with-an-empty-signifier-the-relational-performative-approach-to-populism

Restricted files

Publisher's version

  • 161
    total views
  • 0
    total downloads
  • 10
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month
These values are for the period from 19th October 2020, when this repository was created.

Export as

Related outputs

How the populist radical right exploits crisis : Comparing the role of proximity in the COVID-19 and refugee crises in Germany
Hinterleitner, Markus, Kammermeier, Valentina and Moffitt, Benjamin. (2023). How the populist radical right exploits crisis : Comparing the role of proximity in the COVID-19 and refugee crises in Germany. West European Politics. pp. 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2023.2275892
What was the ‘alt’ in alt-right, alt-lite, and alt-left? on ‘alt’ as a political modifier
Moffitt, Benjamin. (2023). What was the ‘alt’ in alt-right, alt-lite, and alt-left? on ‘alt’ as a political modifier. Political Studies. pp. 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1177/00323217221150871
The populist radical right in Australia : Pauline Hanson’s One Nation
Moffitt, Benjamin and Sengul, Kurt. (2023). The populist radical right in Australia : Pauline Hanson’s One Nation. Journal of Language and Politics. 22(3), pp. 306-323. https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.22132.mof
Populist attitudes in Australia : Contextualising the demand-side
Kefford, Glenn, Moffitt, Benjamin John, Collins, John and Marsh, Joshua. (2023). Populist attitudes in Australia : Contextualising the demand-side. Australian Journal of Political Science. 58(1), pp. 53-69. https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2022.2122401
How not to respond to populism
Malkopoulou, Anthoula and Moffitt, Benjamin. (2023). How not to respond to populism. Comparative European Politics. pp. 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41295-023-00341-9
Nativism, civic nationalism and the malleability of voter attitudes
Kefford, Glenn, Moffitt, Benjamin and Werner, Annika. (2023). Nativism, civic nationalism and the malleability of voter attitudes. Acta Politica. 58(2), pp. 424-447. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41269-022-00253-8
Types of Populism
Moffitt, Benjamin John. (2022). Types of Populism. In The Populism Interviews: A Dialogue with Leading Experts pp. 5-10 Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003250388-2
Taking account of the visual politics of populism
Moffitt, Benjamin. (2022). Taking account of the visual politics of populism. Polity. 54(3), pp. 557-564. https://doi.org/10.1086/719829
How do populists visually represent ‘the people’? A systematic comparative visual content analysis of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders’ Instagram accounts
Moffitt, Benjamin. (2022). How do populists visually represent ‘the people’? A systematic comparative visual content analysis of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders’ Instagram accounts. The International Journal of Press/Politics. pp. 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612221100418
The localist turn in populism studies
Chou, Mark, Moffitt, Benjamin and Busbridge, Rachel. (2022). The localist turn in populism studies. Swiss Political Science Review. 28(1), pp. 129-141. https://doi.org/10.1111/spsr.12490
Populist attitudes : Bringing together ideational and communicative approaches
Kefford, Glenn, Moffitt, Benjamin and Werner, Annika. (2022). Populist attitudes : Bringing together ideational and communicative approaches. Political Studies. 70(4), pp. 1006-1027. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321721997741
How do mainstream parties ‘become’ mainstream, and pariah parties ‘become’ pariahs? Conceptualizing the processes of mainstreaming and pariahing in the labelling of political parties
Moffitt, Benjamin. (2022). How do mainstream parties ‘become’ mainstream, and pariah parties ‘become’ pariahs? Conceptualizing the processes of mainstreaming and pariahing in the labelling of political parties. Government and Opposition. 57(3), pp. 385-403. https://doi.org/10.1017/gov.2021.5
Political meritocracy and populism : Cure or curse?
Chou, Mark, Moffitt, Benjamin and Bryant, Octavia. (2020). Political meritocracy and populism : Cure or curse Routledge.
The potentials and difficulties of transnational populism : The case of the democracy in Europe movement 2025 (DiEM25)
De Cleen, Benjamin, Moffitt, Benjamin, Panayotu, Panos and Stavrakakis, Yannis. (2020). The potentials and difficulties of transnational populism : The case of the democracy in Europe movement 2025 (DiEM25). Political Studies. 68(1), pp. 146-166. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321719847576
Populism
Moffitt, Benjamin. (2020). Populism Polity Press.
Introduction
Ostiguy, Pierre, Panizza, Francisco and Moffitt, Benjamin. (2020). Introduction. In In Ostiguy, Pierre, Panizza, Francisco and Moffitt, Benjamin (Ed.). Populism in global perspective : A performative and discursive approach pp. 1-18 Routledge.
Conclusions : Reflections on the lessons learned
Panizza, Francisco, Ostiguy, Pierre and Moffitt, Benjamin. (2020). Conclusions : Reflections on the lessons learned. In In Panizza, Francisco, Ostiguy, Pierre and Moffitt, Benjamin (Ed.). Populism in global perspective : A performative and discursive approach pp. 255-274 Routledge.
Cultural Marxism: Far-right conspiracy theory in Australia’s culture wars
Busbridge, Rachel, Moffitt, Benjamin and Thorburn, Joshua. (2020). Cultural Marxism: Far-right conspiracy theory in Australia’s culture wars. Social Identities. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2020.1787822
Populism versus technocracy : Performance, passions, and aesthetics
Moffitt, Benjamin. (2019). Populism versus technocracy : Performance, passions, and aesthetics. In In Cossarini, Paolo and Vallespín, Fernando (Ed.). Populism and passions : Democratic legitimacy after austerity pp. 49-64 Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351205474-4
Populism 2.0: social media and the false allure of "unmediated" representation
Moffitt, Ben. (2019). Populism 2.0: social media and the false allure of "unmediated" representation. In In G. Fitzi, J. Mackert and B.S. Turner (Ed.). Populism and the Crisis of Democracy: Politics, Social Movements and Extremism pp. 30 - 46 Routledge.
Populism and media in Western Europe
Moffitt, Ben. (2019). Populism and media in Western Europe. In In C. De La Torre (Ed.). Routledge Handbook of Global Populism pp. 235 - 248 Routledge.
The populism/anti-populism divide in Western Europe
Moffitt, Benjamin. (2018). The populism/anti-populism divide in Western Europe. Democratic Theory. 5(2), pp. 1 - 16. https://doi.org/10.3167/dt.2018.050202
Populism in Australia and New Zealand
Moffitt, Ben. (2017). Populism in Australia and New Zealand. In In C. R. Kaltwasser, P. Taggart and P. O. Espejo and P. Ostiguy (Ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Populism pp. 121 - 139 Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198803560.013.5
Transnational populism? Representative claims, media and the difficulty of constructing a transnational “people”
Moffitt, Ben. (2017). Transnational populism? Representative claims, media and the difficulty of constructing a transnational “people”. Javnost. 24(4), pp. 409 - 425. https://doi.org/10.1080/13183222.2017.1330086
Liberal illiberalism? The reshaping of the contemporary populist radical right in Northern Europe
Moffitt, Ben. (2017). Liberal illiberalism? The reshaping of the contemporary populist radical right in Northern Europe. Politics and Governance. 5(4), pp. 112 - 122. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v5i4.996
The global rise of populism: performance, political style, and representation
Moffitt, Ben. (2016). The global rise of populism: performance, political style, and representation Stanford University Press.
How to perform crisis: a model for understanding the key role of crisis in contemporary populism
Moffitt, Ben. (2015). How to perform crisis: a model for understanding the key role of crisis in contemporary populism. Government and Opposition: an international journal of comparative politics. 50(2), pp. 189 - 217. https://doi.org/10.1017/gov.2014.13
Contemporary populism and "the people" in the Asia-Pacific: Thaksin Shinawatra and Pauline Hanson
Moffitt, Ben. (2015). Contemporary populism and "the people" in the Asia-Pacific: Thaksin Shinawatra and Pauline Hanson. In In C. de la Torre (Ed.). The Promise and Perils of Populism: Global Perspectives pp. 293 - 316 The University Press of Kentucky.
Rethinking populism: politics, mediatisation and political style
Moffitt, Ben and Tormey, Simon. (2013). Rethinking populism: politics, mediatisation and political style. Political Studies. 62(2), pp. 381 - 397. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9248.12032