Populist Democrats? Unpacking the Relationship Between Populism and (Liberal) Democracy at the Citizen Level

It is widely feared that the onset of populism poses a threat to democracy, as citizens' support for democracy is essential for its legitimacy and stability. Yet, the relationship between populism and democracy at the citizen level remains poorly understood, particularly with respect to support for liberal democracy. Data measuring citizens' populist attitudes in conjunction with a comprehensive range of measures of democratic support has been lacking. Using unique data from the Netherlands, we study the relationship between individuals' populist attitudes and their attitudes towards democracy in three studies. We examine the association between populism and support for democracy and satisfaction with democracy (Study 1); populism and support for liberal democracy (Study 2); and populism and support for majoritarian conceptions of democracy (Study 3). We find that while populist citizens are dissatisfied with how democracy works, they are no less supportive of the principle of democracy. Contrary to most theorizing, we find that populist citizens are largely supportive of key institutions of liberal democracy, but reject mediated representation through political parties. At the same time, populists strongly support forms of unconstrained majoritarian rule. These findings suggest that the relationship between populism and support for (liberal) democracy is more complicated than commonly assumed.

Seeing the Genocide against the Tutsi through someone else’s eyes: Prosthetic memory and Hotel Rwanda

Alison Landsberg’s theory of ‘prosthetic memory’ suggests that memories are not ‘owned’, that is they do not depend on lived experience, but rather they can occur as a result of an individual’s engagement with a mediated representation (e.g. a film, a museum, a TV series, a novel). One of the best-known mass cultural responses to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda is Terry George’s 2004 feature film, Hotel Rwanda. While the film was a huge commercial success, Rwandan survivor testimonies paint a very different picture of what happened in the real ‘Hotel Rwanda’ (the Hôtel des Mille Collines in the Rwandan capital of Kigali). This article discusses the different versions of the ‘Hotel Rwanda’ story through the lens of prosthetic memory and considers the usefulness of Landsberg’s theory for analysing memory narratives from or about Rwanda. While Landsberg promotes prosthetic memories as ‘in the best cases’ capable of generating empathy and political alliances, I show that, when mass-mediated representations create revisionist false ‘memories’, this can have harmful consequences for survivors of trauma. After focusing on the ethical implications of what Landsberg describes as ‘seeing through someone else’s eyes’, I conclude that prosthetic memory is a concept that should be treated with caution.

Savvy viewers and (simulated) reality TV: An analysis of The Bachelor’s appeal to viewers

The reality television programme The Bachelor (2002‐present) has received a large amount of academic attention since it premiered on ABC in 2002. The majority of that literature approaches the show critically to address issues relating to the representation of race, gender, consumerism, identity and relationships within the format of a competition. Other research on the show ruminates about its relationship to its ‘savvy’ viewers who know reality television is not truly real and yet paradoxically continue to be highly invested in the outcome of its shows. Yet other literature probes for the gratifications embedded in the viewing process and the perceptions of dating that the show cultivates in its viewers. The longevity of The Bachelor can be attributed to the sense of allegiance the viewers feel to the show. To that end, this study is an inquiry into perceptions of the show by its viewers. Using the Q sort methodology, this empirical study reveals insights into its appeal by providing clearly grouped audiences and their particular uses for the show. It also addresses the interface between reality television, social media and the mediated representation of romantic relationships.

Sound Bites

A sound bite is an authentic mediated representation of an uninterrupted segment of audible speech. As such it can occur in all media involving audio and is a key component of material news cultures. During the past decades, one of the most widely replicated findings in a wide range of countries has been that the number of sound bites is shrinking. This has attracted attention from journalism scholars and the general public because shrinking sound bites are indicative of a move toward more interpretive or even interventionist models of journalism and because they have well‐documented detrimental consequences for the quality of public discourse that journalism helps to construct. [Publication of this chapter on SocArXiv courtesy of John Wiley and Sons, Inc.]

‘The Terror and Scourge of the Barrio’: Representations of Youth Crime and Policing on Nicaraguan Television News

This paper explores the meanings that youth crime and policing acquire in the context of their mediated representation on the televised news in Nicaragua. In particular, it explores this question by juxtaposing the televised imagery of the apprehended juvenile delinquent with the discursive treatment of his person by both police and reporters on Nicaragua's most watched news shows,Acción 10andCrónica TN8. The police are presented as heroic protagonists who serve and protect the barrio through ‘communitarian policing’ whilst the juvenile delinquent – the ‘pinta’ – is excluded and stigmatised. This turns such youths into socially expendable and ‘tainted, discounted’ outsiders who can be treated as such. In this way, through the news,pintasare targeted for ‘removal’ from the barrio, and their mediated arrests become ‘spectacular performances’ of community. A discrepancy appears, then, between the police's communitarian discourse and its reactionary practice.