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1981
Volume 24, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 1539-7785
  • E-ISSN: 2048-0717

Abstract

It has been over thirty years since the publication of Albert Hirschman’s . Hirschman’s tripartite model – the perversity, futility and jeopardy theses – offers a powerful lens through which to read the historical corpus of conservative thought. Yet we must ask whether a new model of reactionary rhetoric is needed today, given the very different political atmosphere and media environment from the ones in which Hirschman originally formulated his argument. This article is premised on the view that we urgently require a new conception of reactionary rhetoric. It proposes a different analytical approach from Hirschman’s. First, it adopts a conception of conservatism as a reaction against democracy, a defence of the rich and powerful, and the preservation of hierarchy. Second, it makes a case for incorporating a media-ecological perspective to make sense of reactionary rhetoric. Synthesizing political theory with media ecology, this article proposes that if conservatism is an antidemocratic, antiegalitarian and counterrevolutionary movement, then two central and inevitable elements of conservative rhetoric are and . Conservative rhetoric, we propose, has both a negative and an affirmative dimension. The negative dimension consists of (1) the of social injustice, (2) the of a wildly exaggerated or completely fictitious enemy and (3) the of the relationship between the powerful and the victims of power. The affirmative dimension consists of (1) the of populist sentiment, (2) the of hierarchy and (3) the of social and political order.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Award 435-2022-0788)
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/content/journals/10.1386/eme_00234_1
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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): conservatism; demonization; denialism; inversion; right-wing; sublimation

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