Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 PhD, Department of Political Science, Political Sociology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
2 Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
Introduction
The psychological approach to studying political phenomena has been prevalent after World War Two, and Charles Merriam and Harold Lasswell were the pioneers. As a result of the disasters of the Holocaust and war, theorists provoked to evaluate the human psyche precisely. The essay tried to examine the phenomenon of populism through this unique theoretical perspective because the mainstream theories of political sociology, including Hanna Arendt’ and William Kornhauser’s theories have not convincingly analyzed populist movements.
Literature Review
Although Kornhauser argued that mass movement never happened in pluralistic societies due to civil society and democratic institutions, the USA as the most pluralistic society has experienced the populist movement in the Trump period. He carried out the research by the quantitative method, which was based on objectiveness. So, he did not consider the latent emotions in mass movements. Additionally, Hanna Arendt could not supply a convincing explanation of the phenomenon because she concentrated on consensus and overlooked the desire for domination in human societies. Nonetheless, the pivotal point of Mouffe and Laclau’s theory was the antagonism between people and corrupt elites. For instance, the aggression of Germans toward politicians who had signed the Treaty of Versailles indicated antagonism. Trump also talked about Obama and Hillary Clinton as the corrupt elites. Mouffe believed Arendt overlooked the political, which has been intrinsic nature between pure people and corrupt elites and contemplated this issue as the drawback of liberalism. However, the essay tried to criticize two mentioned theories of political sociology due to their analytical impasse.
The Purpose of Research
The purpose was to gain an in-depth comprehension of the new social movements using the socio-political psychological approach because the approach had the advantage of examining the psychological human drives and desires in mass movements, which have had a profound role in populist movements. In contrast, the exact deficiency of the socio-political approach has been the ignorance of psychological desires. The significance and necessity of this research were being informed the unknown psychological roots of populist movements in order to prevent another movement like Nazism and surviving societies from holocausts and wars.
Methodology
The present research was conducted by the qualitative method and discourse analysis based on Chantal Mouffe and Laclau’s theory. Mouffe and Laclau could examine the crucial role of human emotions in politics. In other words, they have paid attention to “passion” and “identity” as the two psychological concepts, which have never been raised before that. So, they considered the political arena based on emotions instead of rationality. Therefore, they have raised a comprehensive attitude toward social movements. While Carl Schmitt supposed antagonism in the international arena between Germany and other countries, Mouffe and Laclau saw it in society. The main question was what psychological stimuli caused to support the populist and how can populism be examined through the psychological approach? The hypothesis was the stimuli, involving the feeling of inferiority, envy, and need for dignity, to be ignored, marginalization and xenophobia have been the main psychological stimuli in the emergence of populism.
Results
The essay has analysed the content of Hitler and Trump’s speeches using the discourse method, including floating signifiers which have articulated around the central signifier based on power. Furthermore, otherness, antagonistic relationships and empty signifiers have been examined. The psychological stimuli as the floating signifiers articulated around people as the central signifier. When Hitler talked about constructing a new society signified achieving lost national dignity. The feeling of shame, economic inflation, lack of international opportunities and lack of colonial territories signified suffering of inferiority. Moreover, xenophobia signified Jewry and Marxists as otherness in Nazi discourse. Mexico, immigrants, and emerging economic powers such as Japan and China were otherness in Trump's discourse. Also, the empty signifiers were an ideal leader and economic-political situations. When Trump said “We need a leader who makes America great again” signified the empty signifier, which was absent in the status quo. In a nutshell, the Matrix showed the components of populism discourse, involving signifiers, signified and otherness in detail.
Conclusion
German society felt inferior when they compared themselves with other European countries that were developed and had colonial territories. They also envied Jewish people in terms of their economic status. Xenophobia has been another motivation in mass movements, and American society had fear of unemployment facing immigrants. Trump and Hitler have responded to these social emotions psychologically and achieved power, and the essay tried to unravel their discourses.
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