Is populism the unsurpassable horizon of our own time or is it a temptation that should at all costs be resisted? Who, and to what end, does the jargon of populism serve?

To answer these questions, Alexander Stagnell, Gustav Strandberg, David Payne, and their contributors trace the socio-historical significance of the concept of 'The People' in western philosophy and its relationship to the trend of populist politics today. Bringing together scholars from the fields of aesthetics, critical, cultural and political theory, philosophy, and rhetoric, this volume critically explores the issues facing contemporary society today.

With an international team of authors, each chapter speaks to a range of contexts recently affected by populism today, including Sweden, Brazil, Germany, Austria, France, and the UK. As political and economic establishments face a crisis of legitimacy, Populism and The People in Contemporary Critical Thought reveals the shaky foundations on which the concept of 'The People' rests. Engaging with critical theory, feminist theory, Marxism, phenomenology, and psychoanalysis, this collection highlights how 'The People' comes to stand in for both belonging and exclusion, enabling us to see the uses and abuses of such terminology as pressing theoretical and political concerns.

Alexander Stagnell is Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Rhetoric at the Free University of Brussels (ULB), Belgium.
David Payne has a PhD in Political Theory, and lectures and researches at Södertörn University. He is also International Research Editor for Södertörn University, Sweden.
Gustav Strandberg is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Södertörn University, Sweden.

Introduction David Payne, Alexander Stagnell, & Gustav Strandberg

Part I: Political Reflections on the People
1. The People: Proper, Common, Improper. An Interview with Jacques Rancière Jacques Rancière, David Payne, Alexander Stagnell, & Gustav Strandberg
2. Demophobia in Politics: Remarks on Liberal Anti-Populism and the Possibility of a Radical Democratic Populism Oliver Marchart
3. Logics of Democracy in the Work of Ernesto Laclau and Jacques Rancière Mark Devenney & Clare Woodford
4.Disavowals of Populism: The Political Displacement of Homogeneity Karl Ekeman

Part II: Toward an Affectology of Populism
5. The Politics of Resentment and Its Pitfalls Samo TomSic
6. "That's Disgusting!": The Shifting Politics of Affect in Right-Wing Populist Mobilization Maria Brock & Jenny Gunnarsson Payne
7. The People and the Image of the Leader: Reflections on Mass-Psychology Chiara Bottici
Part III: The Aesthetics of the People
8.Picturing the People: The Dilemmas of Democratic Representation Paula Diehl
9. Aesthetic Forms of the Political: Populist Ornaments, Cultures of Rejection, Democratic Assemblies Stefan Jonsson
10. The Undivided People: On the Hypothesis of Radical Democracy in Peter Weiss's "The Aesthetics of Resistance" Kim West

Part IV: The People beyond the Political
11. Fragmentation of the Idea of the People: The Afro-Brazilian Event Muniz Sodré
12.A Politics of the People and a Politics of the Popular: From the Russian Revolution to "Gramsci's Ashes" Tora Lane
13. Facing People Ramona Rat
Epilogue
15. On 'People': Brief Theoretical Notes Michael Marder