Multiculturalism as New Historical Identity: Populism and Identity Politics

After introducing the general aspects that have led to the emergence of identity politics, the contribution analyzes the differences between the meanings that cultural difference has assumed in the context of the multicultural debate and the meanings that it assumes in the most recent forms of populist rhetoric. In the context of multicultural debates, identity politics have been a political tool to claim greater inclusion and greater recognition, to broaden tolerance of difference in the public space, and to deconstruct the logics of power that define the rules of public space and collective life. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the populist discourse of the extreme right has appropriated the theme of cultural difference by emphasizing the need to defend the identity of the majority group endangered by the excessive presence of “incompatible” cultural diversities and by the political elites who support and defend them. The recent wave of sovereigntist populism is seen as both a right-wing reaction to the problematic aspects of globalization and a reaction to the excesses of multiculturalism that promotes and supports cultural differences. The current sovereigntist populism of the extreme right appropriates the idea of identity politics by emphasizing the theme of the threat and the importance of defending an (alleged) homogeneity of the dominant group (of the people). This populism is based on the idea that the identity (and interests) of the people must be defended both – horizontally – from the attack of aggressive minorities who question the sacred foundations of the majority, and – vertically – from ruling elites who support cosmopolitan and multicultural policies at the expense of the identity and interests of the majority. In this case, the difference is seen as a possible resource – in its irreducible ambivalence – aimed at destabilizing the symbolic oppositions that are at the basis of the existing group differentiations. The final part of the entry traces possible lines of convergence and distinction between identity politics and contemporary forms of populism. In particular, it highlights how both emphasize culture, often ending up reifying it. However, while multiculturalism and the related forms of identity politics recognize the existence of difference and reflect on how to live with it; populism sees difference as a threat and denies it.