Populism is social democracy in times of group disorganization

Evidence

Where the preconditions are not met for the development of social democracy—either because the groups it purports to represent have yet to be organized, as in the examples cited above, or because they are in a state of advanced decomposition, as today—populism will become the default mode of politics. Populism, in other words, is a form of social democracy without social democracy, or the form taken by progressive politics in times of (relative) disorganization. — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment, 297

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines populism as progressive politics whose representational base is disorganized — the book’s central retheorization.
• XREF: connects to: Podemos revived social democracy instead of displacing it — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment: The Left After the…, 309; Populist ambiguity yields lukewarm economics and narrow nationalism in power — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment: The Left After the…, 319; Contemporary right-wing populist followings lack the mass organization fascism required — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment: The Left After the…, 32 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Populism’s analytical elusiveness stems from theory’s own limited tools #responds-to (0.80) — Ernesto Laclau, On Populist Reason, 9
• Ideological emptiness in populism is itself a performative act with social rationality #expands (0.75) — Ernesto Laclau, On Populist Reason, 50
• Democracy and populism both depend on producing an empty signifier #qualifies (0.75) — Ernesto Laclau, On Populist Reason, 337
• Populism is a permanent possibility of political structuration, not a deviance #expands (0.72) — Ernesto Laclau, On Populist Reason, 46