The Populist Elite Paradox: Using Elite Theory to Elucidate the Shapes and Stakes of Populist Elite Critiques

Abstract

Critiques of elites define populism, which conceives of power relations as a unified, conspiring elite exploiting the good people. Yet, populism itself is inherently elitist, calling for a strong leader to take power and channel the will of the people. Elite theory, surprisingly overlooked in scholarship on populism, can clarify this apparent paradox and elucidate the dimensions of populism and its risk of authoritarianism in new ways. In contrast to populist ideological conceptions of power relations in society, elite theory points to the possibility that several elites with diverging voices and interests exist. Furthermore, elite theorists argue that such elite pluralism is a necessary component of a well-functioning democracy. Much scholarship on populism, often aiming to understand its causes and focussing on Western Europe and North America, points to the similarities of populist movements. The focus on similarities strengthens the understanding of populism as a uniform phenomenon and populist elite critiques as homogeneous. However, broader comparative studies show that different populist movements target a range of various elite groups. Indeed, the empirical reality of populist elite critiques targeting diverse elite groups is more in line with elite theory than populist ideological

The Political Economy of Redistribution and (in)Efficiency in Latin America and the Caribbean

“…Yet, populism itself is inherently elitist, calling for a strong leader to take power and channel the will of the people." (Mangset et al 2019).…”

The unwilling foils of the political right: The cultural elite in Swedish and Norwegian newspapers

“…Sweden and Norway are not the only countries in which the cultural elite have become ensnared in a multi-layered and intense conflict between society's bottom and top. In recent years, a number of Western countries have experienced popular protests against elites (Mangset et al, 2019;Norris and Inglehart, 2019). Admittedly, protests have often been directed toward economic and political elites, not necessarily toward cultural elites.…”

“…In addition to studying the elite structure in particular countries (Bennett et al, 2009;Gulbrandsen et al, 2002;Ruostetsaari, 2015), sociologists have explored various types of elites (Bourdieu, 1984;Prieur and Savage, 2013;), and they have pointed to new themes, such as elite subjective identity (Ljunggren, 2015), symbolic boundaries (Jarness and Friedman, 2017;Lamont, 1992), cultural cleavages (Norris and Inglehart, 2019) and populist elite critiques (Mangset et al, 2019). Moreover, they have expressed an interest in 'new politics' organized less by class and more by differences in lifestyles, values and identities (Harrits, 2013;Jarness et al, 2019).…”

“…There may also be differences in how the parties, especially the new populist right, affect opinion regarding the cultural elite. Populist parties have in recent years been in the forefront of the criticism levelled at elites, in an effort to increase their legitimacy and level of influence (Brubaker, 2017;Mangset et al, 2019). Support for populist parties in the aforementioned parliamentary elections was 12.9 and 16.3 percent for the Sweden Democrats and the Progress Party (Norway), respectively.…”

Absolved from the neoliberal burden of responsibility: The effect of populist victim rhetoric on leader support

“…Second, a politician claiming to be anti‐elitist is likely perceived as lacking credibility. After all, politicians, however unconventional, are usually part of the elite in the eyes of most citizens (Hameleers, 2021; Mangset et al, 2019; however, see Castanho Silva [2019] for possible exceptions). Finally, while there are some examples of successful populists who deliberately exclude major parts of the electorate (e.g., the Freedom Party of Austria [FPÖ] or the Swiss People's Party [SVP]; Mudde & Kaltwasser, 2017), ample research indicates that instead of excluding social groups, successful leaders are intent on and apt at crafting an identity that includes nearly all potential followers and minimizes the proportion of people excluded (Haslam et al, 2020; Reicher & Hopkins, 1996).…”