The Civil Sphere and Populism

THE CIVIL SPHERE AND POPULISM ~ Conference and Book Project

This is the fifth in a series of conference-book projects to globalize civil sphere theory (CST).

The resurgence of authoritarian, extremist social, cultural, and political movements poses the greatest challenge to democracy since the 1930s. We believe this extraordinarily dangerous development can and should be conceptualized in terms of civil sphere theory, in terms of the strains and challenges that face real existing civil spheres. Not only will doing so freshly illuminate left and right populism but it will advance and elaborate the research program that has been developing around civil sphere theory.

Co-Organizers: Jeffrey Alexander, Yale University; Giuseppe Sciortino, Trento University; and Peter Kivisto, Augustana University. Generously supported by: The Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kempf Memorial Fund and the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale, International Migration Laboratory of the universita degli studi di Trento, and the Center for Cultural Sociology at Yale University.

Special thanks to CCS Junior Fellow Anne Marie Champagne for her assistance with this project.