ABSTRACT
Much has been made in recent years of the anti-elitism of populist movements. In fact, much of the theorising of populism argues that populism revolves around an opposition between the people and the elites. However, as I will discuss in this chapter, there are, in fact, quite distinct types of elites that feature prominently in populist discourse, and this difference between various elites, in turn, alludes to the presence of rather different strands of populism. I identify three key elite groups: the rich antagonised by the populist Left, the intellectual elites antagonised by the populist Right and the political elites antagonised by the populist Centre but also acting as a transversal elite; all populists partly antagonise, regardless of their specific ideological orientation. What is shared across these different elites is that the anti-elitism targeted at them is informed by a sense of betrayal by elite actors who, regardless of their specific nature, are seen as depriving ordinary people of control over political decisions, i.e. over their economic livelihoods, cultural values and world-views. Looking at the political implications of this state of affairs, I argue that the real solution is not doing away with the elites but rather constituting “popular elites”, i.e. elite groups that originate from and whose interests are tied to those of the popular classes.
