Populism in an Identity Framework: A Feedback Model

Abstract

Drawing upon the social psychology concept of identity entrepreneurs (Haslam et al., 2010), we develop a feedback model between politicians and the public that strongly emphasizes the circumstances in which public opinion may facilitate populist discursive elements and politics. We thus consider the success of populism as neither inherently driven by political leaders nor primarily driven by increasing populist attitudes in the public and acknowledge the fragmented nature of the populist discourse emphasized by recent studies. We raise the question of whether there is a populist collective identity, which is accountable in terms of populist rhetorical elements, and how it changes over time. To answer this question, we apply the proposed framework to the case of the rise and development of the populist discourse in Switzerland while accounting for its dynamic adaptation to raising public concerns and for the influence of its core rhetorical elements on individual voting behavior.

Who supports science-related populism? A nationally representative survey on the prevalence and explanatory factors of populist attitudes toward science in Switzerland

“…But we also find that sizable portions of the population endorse components of science-related populism, which suggests that a considerable number of people may be prone to developing support for the full range of science-related populist ideas, especially if these ideas are articulated in "public arenas" [92] that could foster the success of science-related populist sentiment at the societal level. So far, however, such concerns might be less warranted than those about a rise of political populism in Switzerland [93]: When comparing our results with similar surveys, we find that science-related populist attitudes seem less widespread among the Swiss than political populist attitudes.…”

Women’s voices for the earth: Communication strategies of women candidates on environmental issues in the 2024 election

“…Researchers note that there are many other communication strategies that female legislative candidates can employ, such as selectively emphasizing policy issues to highlight their competence on policy issues on which their party has built a reputation [26]. It suggested that when politicians circumvent the party agenda framework, they may do so by "trespassing" on issues that are not central to the party agenda [27]. Based on the field findings, it was seen that female legislative candidates are trying to use reliable political communication strategies to convince voters that they care about environmental issues in their campaigns, even though the campaign period has not yet begun.…”

The deployment of social media by political authorities and health experts to enhance public information during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…This number is still significantly lower than the 40% of people who voted against the two COVID-19 proposals (in June 2021 and November 2021). This climate of distrust is particularly problematic in conjunction with direct democracy systems, as it can open the door to easy populist loops (Reveilhac & Morselli, 2022).…”