Civil Disruption and The Populist Moment

• In Event: Theory Section Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 6

Abstract

Current research on the populist moment is often dominated by political science and social psychology, frequently overlooking the deep-seated sociological structures that animate contemporary upheaval. This paper intervenes by critiquing and expanding upon Jeffrey Alexander’s Civil Sphere Theory, arguing that its foundational focus on "civil repair" and universalizing solidarity is ill-equipped to explain moments of radical, exclusionary transformation. By drawing a historical parallel between the "Redemption" era following the American Civil War and our current "unsettled" political present, I introduce the concept of civil disruption. Civil disruption is theorized as a material and symbolic break where misrecognized moral claims—specifically those of the white working class—gain traction not by repairing civil norms, but by destabilizing them through alternative "moral infrastructures". Using a cultural-materialist lens, this paper analyzes how these infrastructures (ranging from Fox News to digital "manosphere" communities) reconfigure civil codes to legitimate an exclusionary order. Ultimately, the paper argues that understanding the populist moment requires moving beyond a "deficit model" of working-class morality to recognize how the civil sphere itself is bifurcating into distinct, irreconcilable sources of solidarity grounded in spectacle and strength rather than universalistic deliberation.

Authors

• Dean R. Ray, York University

• Reece Peck, College of Staten Island, CUNY