A social movement perspective on demagoguery: Achieving symbolic realignment

Abstract

This essay argues that negative assumptions about demagogues have precluded an adequate understanding of demagogic discourse. Scholars typically have been unwilling to acknowledge that demagogic responses may be functional and even appropriate in certain rhetorical situations. This essay analyzes and critiques the literature on demagoguery, and then turns more helpfully to a social movement perspective which employs a “social construction of reality” approach. Specifically, the essay analyzes the discourse of Louis Farrakhan using a “symbolic realignment” perspective drawn from social movement literature.