Contextual and Semantic Diversity of Populism and ...

Contextual and Semantic Diversity of Populism and the Awkwardness of Its Concept

Before the 1950s，“populism” was only a “specific term” used by western historians，referring specifically to the radical peasant politics represented by the Populist Party movements of the United States in the late 19th century.Meanwhile，western historians interested in Russia ’s“Populists” translated the Russian word “narodnik” into the English word “populist”.^[2] American sociologist Edward Shils elevated populism from a specific term to a general concept for the first time，referring the concept of “populism” to an extreme ideological phenomenon in which civilians oppose elites instead of being limited to Russian ’s “populists”and American ’s “Populist Party” movements.^[3] After Shils introduced the term “populism” to sociology for the first time，populism became a key object in sociological and political researches.Since then，the connotation and extension of populism have been reconstructed again and again，leading to contextual and semantic diversity of populism，with the objects including ideology，political movements，political leaders，political styles，governments，political parties，and policies，etc.，the application situations covering politics，economy，society，and culture，etc.Based on relevant literature at home and abroad，the concept or theory of populism mainly involves （but is not limited to） the following examples and samples: