Individual Submission Summary
Share...

Direct link:

After Trump: Populism, Legitimacy, and Communication

Fri, May 26, 15:30 to 16:45, Hilton San Diego Bayfront, Floor: 2, Indigo Ballroom B

Abstract

The rise of “Trumpism” was driven by multiple forces: the increase of U.S. social inequality over a 40 year period; the status anxiety on the part of many whites and conservative Christians over their declining cultural hegemony; President Obama’s two terms; and a rising non-white majority. Beyond these macro forces, Trumpism was driven by changes in communication itself: the rapid decline of mainstream journalism, shift to social media and accompanying homophily and polarization, the blurring of lines between entertainment and news, and more deeply the decline of fact-based discourse in the formation of political judgment. This panel asks whether and what interventions in the public sphere, civil society, and the communication system could begin to restore the necessary democratic norms that have become dangerously eroded.

Authors