Critical theory and demagogic populism

This is the first study to make a detail case for the Frankfurt School’s relevance to understanding contemporary populism. It reconstructs their analysis of ‘modern demagogy’ and demonstrates its advantages over orthodox ‘populism studies’ and the work of Laclau. The book also extends the Institute’s analysis to assess ‘counter-demagogic’ forces. Populism is one of the most significant phenomena in twenty-first-century politics, but what it is and how it functions remains a source of dispute. Side-stepping the usual debates over definition, Critical theory and demagogic populism makes a unique contribution by revisiting the Frankfurt School’s ground-breaking work on demagogy.The book reconstructs the Institute for Social Research’s ‘Studies in Prejudice’ project of the 1940s, providing an analysis of demagogy in the United States that engages with Weber’s work on charismatic leadership, the US liberal critique of demagogy and the theories of Freud, notably his group psychology. The result is what Adorno calls ‘a kind of psychotechnics’, where the rally acts as a site of performative cultural production of demagogic speech. Extending this analysis into the present, the book identifies modern demagogy as a key feature of contemporary populism. Populist movements, whether ‘left’ or ‘right’, are susceptible to ‘demagogic capture’, and the likelihood of capture has only increased with the rise of the culture industry, since demagogues, from Father Coughlin in the 1920s to Trump today, have always been ‘early adopters’.Providing a critique of orthodox populism studies and its critics, notably Laclau, Critical theory and demagogic populism brings the wider Gramscian tradition into productive dialogue with the work of the Institute for Social Research. It concludes by extending the Institute’s analysis to assess ‘counter-demagogic’ forces. Populism is a powerful force today, but its full scope has eluded the analytical tools of both orthodox and heterodox ‘populism studies’. This book provides a valuable alternative perspective. It reconstructs in detail for the first time the sociological analyses of US demagogues by members of the Frankfurt School and compares these with contemporary approaches. Modern demagogy emerges as a key under-researched feature of populism, since populist movements, whether 'left' or 'right', are highly susceptible to 'demagogic capture'. The book also details the culture industry’s populist contradictions – including its role as an incubator of modern demagogues – from the 1930s through to today’s social media and ‘Trumpian psychotechnics’. Featuring a previously unpublished text by Adorno on modern demagogy as an appendix, it will be of interest to researchers and students in critical theory, sociology, politics, German studies, philosophy and history of ideas, as well as all those concerned about the rise of demagogic populism today.