An empty signifier can be captured and reinscribed by opposing sectors

Evidence

The attempt to establish an equivalential inscription which would prevail over such a differential particularism centred on a definition of the ‘producers’ (as opposed to the ‘idlers’ or the ‘parasitic’) which was so vague and abstract as to embrace most sectors of the population. This, however, as Kazin points out, was a double-edged weapon: if ‘producers’ became an empty signifier by loosening its links with particular referents, it could also be appropriated by sectors different from the populist ones, and reinscribed in an alternative equivalential chain – that is to say, it could become a floating signifier. — Ernesto Laclau, On Populist Reason, 403

Categorization

• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Defeated populism is absorbed hierarchically into the ruling order — Ernesto Laclau, On Populist Reason, 412; Counter-hegemony works by reattaching emptied signifiers to their original meanings. — Ernesto Laclau, On Populist Reason, 367; Democracy and populism both depend on producing an empty signifier — Ernesto Laclau, On Populist Reason, 337 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Democracy and populism both depend on producing an empty signifier #expands (0.85) — Ernesto Laclau, On Populist Reason, 337
• Leaderless movements that cede representation get represented by opponents #exemplifies (0.75) — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 443