The Populist Reason (Phronesis S.) - Hardcover

In this new and highly original work Ernesto Laclau continues the philosophical and political exploration initiated in Hegemony and Socialist Strategy, New Reflections on the Revolution of Our Time and Emancipation(s). his topic here is the construction of popular identities, conceived in a wide sense covering the ensemble of strategies making possible the emergence of the 'people' as a collective actor. The book skilfully combines theoretical analysis with a myriad of empirical references from numerous historical and geographical contexts. The first part presents a critical reading of the existing literature on populism, demonstrating its dependency on the basic categories elaborated by theorists of 'mass psychology', from Taine and Le Bon to Tarde, McDougall and Freud. The second part forms the main theoretical core of the work, where the question of the emergence of the 'people' as a political and social force is treated. Several categories already present in Laclau's work - such as empty and floating signifiers, hegemony and heterogeneity - are developed here in new and innovative directions. In particular, the relation of populism to democracy and to the logic of representation is given special emphasis. The third part is devoted to particular case studies of both the conditions leading to the emergence of the 'people' and the obstacles preventing its formation. Finally, in a concluding chapter, Laclau locates the question of popular identities within the context of a globalized world and differentiates his approach from those of other theoreticians such as Zizek, Hardt and Negri and Ranciere. This book is essential reading for all those interested in the question of political identities in present-day societies.

Ernesto Laclau is Professor of Political Theory in the Department of Government, University of Essex, and in the Department of Comparative Literature, State University of New York Buffalo. He has lectured in many universities throughout Western Europe, North America and Latin America and was the founder and director of the doctoral program in Ideology and Discourse Analysis and The Centre for Theoretical Studies, Both at the University of Essex. He is the author, among other works, of Hegemony and Socialist Strategy (co-authored with Chantal Mouffe), New Reflections on the Revolution of Our Time, Emancipation(s), and Contingency, Hegemony and Universality (co-authored with Judith Butler and Slavoj Zizek).