Populism and social movements

In this chapter, we look at populism from a social movement perspective, both theoretically - what one field of study can contribute to the other and how corresponding notions and analytical tools have been and/or can be combined - and empirically - how the interaction between populism and movements manifests in societies, either in the form of institutional actors interacting with movements or in the very activity of populist social movements. By looking at framing processes, we point at the different attitudes towards democracy in progressive and regressive movements (depending on their definition of ‘the people’) but also at the different conceptualization of the relations between the elites and the rank and file within social movement organizations. Our analysis suggests that the way in which ‘the people’ and ‘elites’ are framed needs to be considered together with the analysis of the changing organizational forms and the repertoire of actions of contentious politics enacted.