Du populisme « par le haut » au populisme « par le bas ». Les apports d’une enquête de terrain à la redéfinition d’un concept flou

Abstract

Populism continues to be used in the media and part of the social sciences as a vague concept synonymous with nationalism, demagogy or xenophobia. In the face of this conceptual inconsistency Latin America remains a case in point: populism is an integral part of its political history, and the continental social sciences have sought to define it rigorously in a comparative perspective. It must be noted, however, that Latin American sociologists have often considered populism “from above” as an ideological trait of States, public policies and political organizations. Based on a field survey conducted in the Venezuelan working-class communities (barrios) between 2007 and 2011, this article seeks, by contrast, to examine the modes of politicization underlying populism so as to understand how it legitimizes and reproduces itself in social life through the actions of the very same individuals that are targeted by populist policies—the inhabitants of working class neighborhoods. The aim is to demonstrate that populism "from below" corresponds to a certain type of political experience, i.e. a certain way of integrating community both from within and from without; of regulating the interests of the community members in relation to an ideal of the “common good”; and of instilling in each individual an unprecedented call to emancipation while acknowledging the crushing legacy of precariousness.

Keywords

• populism
• participation
• democracy
• barrios
• political subjectivation