ABSTRACT
This introduction lays out the theoretical framework that underpins the rest of the book’s chapters. It addresses the nexus of populism and popular music, and details the project’s overarching research questions as well as its methodological framework. The chapter begins with a discussion of the most recent literature on populism in order to then address the concept’s polyvalence and its intricate connections with nationalism in contemporary Europe. The authors suggest a culture-oriented approach to populism and introduce the concept of ‘cultures of populism’ through which to examine the complex interconnections between the cultural articulations of populist actors on the one hand, and wider cultural shifts on the other. Furthermore, the introduction argues the particular importance of studying popular culture given its potential for – and role in – both populist political mobilisation and socio-cultural normalisation. Finally, the chapter contends that the mainstreaming of populist discourses in contemporary European societies must be understood as not simply a unidirectional movement of radical ideologies from the social fringe to the centre, but as a complex set of entanglements and multidirectional processes.
