Populism and Extreme Masculinities

Populism and Extreme Masculinities

Facilitator: Alexandre de Sousa Carvalho

Team: Alexandre de Sousa Carvalho, Júlia Garraio, Sofia José Santos

Populism has been at the forefront of the political debate in recent years. The sequence of events around the world which has led to, among others, Brexit, the election of populist leaders in the USA, Italy, Turkey, India or Brazil (just to name a few) renewed academic interest in populism. Additionally, there has been a compelling interest in the political masculinity, especially since the then-candidate Donald Trump successfully ran for the US Presidency. Nevertheless, populism is not an exclusive turf of right or left-wing politics and, therefore, some concepts generally associated with populism such as xenophobia, racism, misogyny, classism, might not apply equally to different leaders. Yet, there is a dimension of populism largely unexplored concerning the relationship between a diverse set masculinities and how it affects electoral mobilization and political conduct. DecodeM will study how gendered representations and discourse can be transformed into political capital.