LECTURE 9 ‘EXTREMISM, POPULISM AND (MIS)INFORMATION’

Question 1

Structural explanation of populism

Answer 1

= Economic and cultural protection seeking hypothesis

Question 2

Cultural explanation of populism

Answer 2

• Extremist populism in relation to the civic cultures of democracy – in particular, its values,
  identities, and practices. Populism must be understood in relation to fundamental tensions inherent within democracy itself.
• Can be explained by identity, values and cultural norms.
• Populist movements often arise when there is rapid cultural change (globalization, immigration etc.). This can lead to the feeling of losing traditional values and culture.

Question 3

how you can see populism
2 homologies

Answer 3

2 homologies: the red axes in the middle

1. singular political leader with unique capacity to
   understand and represent the homogeneous people,
   ‘the people.’
2. The elite is the connection between the elite and the outsider. The enemy of populism. Rule of law
   vs rule of man –> clashes a lot. Because the elite want equality for everyone. No discrimination.

Question 4

how you can see populism
4 antagonists

Answer 4

4 antagonists: To understand the populism you need 4 elements:
a. The populist (like Trump or Wilders)
b. The elite (American congress) is the enemy of populism. They want equality (rule of law)
c. The people (the population) – in-group
d. The other/outsider (Mexican emigrants) – out-group

Question 5

populism: You create 4 conflicts

Answer 5

1. Populist vs elite –
2. elite vs the people –
3. people vs the other – the other is the enemy of the people, they cannot mix with the in-group because
   for example of the cultural differences. Newcomers are not welcome (wilders vs Marokanen/Islam,
   trump vs mexicanen).
4. the other vs the populist – the populist would say that the others should not have the same rights as
   the people. A different treatment. US (favoritism) vs THEM

Question 6

Populism, extremism, and media

Answer 6

• Individualization of civic cultures
• Growth of mediated populism through the use of new E-technologies
• Personalization of politics and in the public domain
• New media technologies less successful in promoting democratic values

Question 7

Mediatisation

Answer 7

• Politicians adapt their messages to media-logic, news values, newsroom routines and journalistic culture.
• Sensationalism: politics as a ‘spectacle’
• Focus on individuals/agency, instead of structure.
• Affective journalism of ‘tabloids’: emotions instead of facts
• Events presented without context and explanatory frame.
• Media play a particular role in spreading fear and cultivating perceptions of threat.

Question 8

Mudde: opinion

Answer 8

: Populism is a symptom of a democratic deficit, not the cause

Question 9

Mudde on populism

Answer 9

• Key problem: many people still support central idea of liberal democracy, but no longer support/trust
  established liberal democratic parties and politicians.
• Rise in right-wing populism: Global economic crisis leading to higher levels of inequality between North
  and South, East and West Europe, with revival of stereotypes about ‘others’.

Question 10

Cause of populism

Answer 10

The global economic crisis, increasing inequality within and between nations and accompanying antiimmigrant sentiments.

Question 11

Declining prosperity and opportunity

Answer 11

• Lower- and middle-class prosperity is on the decline due to globalization and neo-liberal austerity
  measures dismantling the welfare state.
• Lower and middle economic strata are offered less and less socio-economic protection.
• Opportunities are shrinking due to outsourcing to countries with cheap labor and via automation home.

Question 12

New media and the ‘civic space’

Answer 12

→ Important to understand the mediated structures of opportunity or ‘affordances’ that new technologies (social networking sites, podcasts, blogs, open-source software and wikis) offer ordinary citizens to engage in and experience the ‘lifeworld’.

Question 13

Mediated populism

Answer 13

• New media creates an ‘increasingly individualized civic environment’ in which public engagement is a
  personal experience, not a collective affair.
• This results in a blurring of private and public sphere, as well as obfuscate professional and private life.
• Loneliness as a driver of populism
• form of populism that relies heavily on mass media, especially digital media, to mobilize and communicate with supporters

Question 14

What will impact participation and orientations in western democracies?

Answer 14

→ Sociodemographic trends such as rising individualism, aging societies, shrinking social networks and widespread loneliness will impact the political participation and orientations in western democracies.

Question 15

“Involuntary celibate’’

Answer 15

= Someone unable to develop romantic or sexual relationships despite desiring one.

Question 16

Incels

Answer 16

The male-only online spaces where young man blame their problems on women,
promoting a hateful and violent ideology. (Incels are member of an online community of young men who
consider themselves unable to attract women and used the internet to find anonymous support).

Question 17

Perception of social hierarchy, based on a sense of oppression or status deprivation:

Answer 17

• Exclusive identity politics = Exclusive concerns are related to outside factors, which affect one’s attitude such as immigration and economic concerns.
• Inclusive identity politics = Inclusive concerns are associated with an individual’s pride for his identity
• Identity politics = A political approach wherein people of a particular race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social background, social class, or other identifying factors develop political agendas that are based upon these identities.

Question 18

Populism: key points

Answer 18

• An idealized sense of historical nation and (often ethnic) community (the ‘people’)
• A critical stance towards ‘the elites’/
• An ideology which pits a virtuous and homogenous people against a set of elites and dangerous
  “others” who are together depicted as depriving (or attempting to deprive) the sovereign people of
  their rights, values, prosperity, identity and voice).

Question 19

Some characteristics of populists

Answer 19

• Singular leader with unique capacity to understand and represent the homogeneous people.
• Populists claim to personally embody the direct expression of the popular will, thereby negating societal
  and political plurality of interests.
• Populists reject representative democracy and its intermediary institutions (trade unions and interest
  groups) and detest mechanisms for interest mediation, negotiation consensus-building and
  compromise, expert advice, legal and bureaucratic procedures, and the traditional press. They all
  ‘distort and obstruct’ the true, direct, and uncorrupted expression of the will of the people by the
  leader

Question 20

Traditional elite defends the rule of law and minority rights

Answer 20

For populists, traditional elites protect ‘outsiders’ (minorities) at the expense of the native, majority population by emphasizing constitutional guarantees of equality before the law, universal rights and freedoms and due process.

→ This ‘ideology of equality’ undermines the safety, well-being and perhaps even survival of the ‘real people’ as they insufficiently ‘protect’ the ‘majority homogeneous people’ against undeserving and predatory outsiders or intruders. (Like ‘the people’, also outsiders and the elite are all represented as homogeneous groups)

Question 21

Rule of law vs. rule of man

Answer 21

This ‘rule of man’ instead of the rule of law creates a conflict between legitimacy (the claim of populists to represent the people) and legality (the claim of the elites that populists violate constitutional and other legal norms and rules).

Question 22

Populist versus elite

Answer 22

• Mudde: Populism is reactive, it’s support is based on resentment.
• Populism is in its core an anti-establishment movement.

Anti-establishment movement = A rejection of the entire economic establishment, cultural elite, academia and
‘political class’.

• For populists, the entire establishment is recruited through the same corrupt mechanisms, and they are
  all part of one corrupt system that betrays the will of the people.

Question 23

Does conspiracy beliefs predict a range of concrete health and well being outcomes?

Answer 23

• They are associated with a myriad of negative life outcomes in the long run
• Covid-19 conspiracy beliefs showed
• A decreased likelihood of getting tested for corona
• If tested, an increased likelihood of the test coming out positive
• an increased likelihood of hanving violated corona regulations
• Deteriorated economic outcomes –> job loss, loss of income
• Experiences of social rejection and decreased overall well being

Question 24

Strong conceptual overlap between populist attitudes and conspiracy belief

Answer 24

→ Both populist movements and conspiracy beliefs have been on the rise over the past 20 years.

The link between the two is anti-elite attitudes.
A political mentality that construes society as an eternal struggle between “the corrupt elites” versus “the noble
people.”

→ An ideology which pits a virtuous and homogenous people against a set of elites and dangerous “others” who are together depicted as depriving (or attempting to deprive) the sovereign people of their rights, values, prosperity, identity and voice)

Question 25

Populist gullibility

Answer 25

= Conspiracy theories, news credibility, bullshit receptivity and paranormal belief

Question 26

Gullibility explanation (Goedgelovig)

Answer 26

= Populist attitudes are associated with a higher likelihood of believing any claim that is not inconsistent with one’s worldview. (Als het bij iemand zijn wereldbeeld past, zijn mensen sneller geneigd populistische beweringen te geloven)

→ Uncritical mindset makes people susceptible to populist rhetoric (Niet kritische mentaliteit maakt mensen vatbaar voor populistische retoriek)

Question 27

Positive reinforcement

Answer 27

• Populist parties are more prone to spread false information than mainstream parties. On the web, gullibility becomes mixed with the diffusion of hoaxes, fake news and misinformation.
• On the internet people can more easily find communities where they feel welcome, no matter what crazy shit they believe.

→ Before, you had zero chance of finding like-minded people who will treat you as anything but nuts. Today, this is no issue. And once people receive positive reinforcement, it is easier to keep believing their objectively crazy ideas.

• It boils down to trust. People will believe the source who they trust, so if they trust a populist politician,
  they will believe her/his conspiracies and will not believe the legacy mainstream media.

Question 28

Xenophobia

Answer 28

Intense fear, dislike, or prejudice towards people from other countries, cultures, or ethnicities. It is a form of discrimination that is rooted in the belief that one’s own group is superior or more deserving than others, and that individuals or groups from other backgrounds are a threat to one’s own culture or way of life.

Question 29

Civic culture

Answer 29

• The shared attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors that promote and sustain democratic participation, social cohesion, and civic engagement in a society.
• Characterized by a high level of trust, social capital, and mutual respect among citizens, as well as a commitment to the common good and the rule of law.

Question 30

Rigidity of the right model

Answer 30

political left and right differ in their cognitive styles. Right wing individuals are more closeminded.

Question 31

Crippled epistemology (Hardin, 2002)

Answer 31

Extremists receive or trust information about political issues mainly from their extremist in-group. Hence they ignore information that may provide more nuanced/moderate perspectives

Question 32

Crippled epistemology (Hardin, 2002)

Answer 32

Extremists receive or trust information about political issues mainly from their extremist in-group. Hence they ignore information that may provide more nuanced/moderate perspectives