TY - JOUR

T1 - Cultures of rejection at work

T2 - Investigating the acceptability of authoritarian populism

AU - Harder, Alexander

AU - Opratko, Benjamin

N1 - The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by Volkswagen Foundation: [Grant Number 94 765].

PY - 2022/6/1

Y1 - 2022/6/1

N2 - This article introduces the concept of cultures of rejection as a framing device to investigate conditions of acceptability of authoritarian populism among workers in Germany and Austria. After situating the concept in the current scholarly debate on right-wing populism and discussing its main theoretical points of reference, we offer an analysis focusing on experiences of crisis and transformation. Two elements of cultures of rejection are discussed in depth: the rejection of racialised and/or culturalised ‘unproductive’ others; and the rejection of the public sphere, linked to the emergence of a ‘shielded subjectivity’. These articulations of rejection are then discussed as related to two dimensions of a crisis of authority: the crisis of state or political authority in the field of labour and the economy; and the crisis of a moral order, experienced as decline in social cohesion. In conclusion, we identify possible avenues for further research, demonstrating the productivity of the conceptual framework of cultures of rejection.

AB - This article introduces the concept of cultures of rejection as a framing device to investigate conditions of acceptability of authoritarian populism among workers in Germany and Austria. After situating the concept in the current scholarly debate on right-wing populism and discussing its main theoretical points of reference, we offer an analysis focusing on experiences of crisis and transformation. Two elements of cultures of rejection are discussed in depth: the rejection of racialised and/or culturalised ‘unproductive’ others; and the rejection of the public sphere, linked to the emergence of a ‘shielded subjectivity’. These articulations of rejection are then discussed as related to two dimensions of a crisis of authority: the crisis of state or political authority in the field of labour and the economy; and the crisis of a moral order, experienced as decline in social cohesion. In conclusion, we identify possible avenues for further research, demonstrating the productivity of the conceptual framework of cultures of rejection.

KW - Austria

KW - crisis of authority

KW - cultures of rejection

KW - Germany

KW - Populism

KW - Cultural studies

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105525890&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/ba6e7762-eb0c-33f8-a573-5133282eaede/

U2 - 10.1177/14687968211012437

DO - 10.1177/14687968211012437

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85105525890

VL - 22

SP - 425

EP - 445

JO - Ethnicities

JF - Ethnicities

SN - 1468-7968

IS - 3

ER -