Re-Constructing “Populism” as a Signifier of the Changing Meanings of the Political World: The Italian Case
Abstract
1. Introduction: Populism in the Current Era
1.1. The Pejorative Stances Underpinning Populism
1.2. Reification and Ordinary Language Effects on Populism
1.3. Populism as a Signifier of the Emotional Symbolizations of the Political World
2. Case Study
2.1. The Italian Political Scenario
2.2. Objective and Methodology
2.3. Definition of Variables and Operationalization
2.3.1. Populist Attitudes
- “Citizens could find better solutions to the country’s problems than current politicians”.
- “The majority of politicians aren’t interested in what ordinary citizens think”.
- “In a democracy, the views of ordinary people should prevail over the views of the political elite”.
- “Government should change its policies in response to the will of the people”.
2.3.2. Political Alienation
- “I see politics as the activity performed only by politicians, government and parliament”.
- “I see politics as the activity performed only by those who hold political power”.
2.3.3. Political Powerlessness
- “I believe that citizens can only passively suffer political decisions”.
2.3.4. Protest Vote
- “Voting serves to replace the political establishment”.
- “Voting serves to change what does not work in the country”.
2.4. Hypotheses
2.5. Participants
2.6. Design and Procedure
3. Results
3.1. Correlation Analyses
- Level of education: r = −0.07, p = 0.032;
- Age: r = 0.07, p = 0.027;
- Political orientation (left to right): r = 0.009, p = 0.004.
- Alienation: The perception that politics is restricted to a detached elite was positively correlated with populist attitudes (r = 0.13, p < 0.001).
- Powerlessness: The perception of being a passive recipient of political decisions strongly correlated with populist attitudes (r = 0.37, p < 0.001).
- Protest Vote: Viewing voting as a mechanism to replace the political elite and drive change was positively associated with populist attitudes (r = 0.13, p < 0.001)
3.2. Regression Analyses
- Model 1: This includes the socio-demographic variables significantly correlated with populist attitudes (age, education level and political orientation). This model was not statistically significant (R = 0.09, F(3, 781) = 2.048, p = 0.11, R2 = 0.008, R2 Adjusted = 0.004).
- Model 2: Alienation was added as a regressor. The model achieved significance (R = 0.14, F(4, 780) = 3.59, p = 0.002, R2 = 0.019, R2 Adjusted = 0.014), with alienation significantly predicting populist attitudes (β = 0.10, t = 2.95, p < 0.01).
- Model 3: Powerlessness was added, significantly increasing the explanatory power (R = 0.36, F(5, 779) = 19.88, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.13, R2 Adjusted = 0.12). In this model, powerlessness was the only significant predictor (β = 0.34, t = 9.98, p < 0.001), while alienation lost significance (β = 0.06, t = 1.70, p < 0.09).
- Model 4: Protest voting was added, further improving the model (R = 0.38, F(6, 778) = 21.33, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.141, R2 Adjusted = 0.135). Powerlessness remained the strongest predictor (β = 0.34, t = 10.05, p < 0.001), followed by protest voting (β = 0.11, t = 3.18, p < 0.01).
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Limitations and Future Directions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A
Measures | M | SD | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Populism | 2.76 | 0.74 | - | 0.07 * | 0.04 | −0.07 *** | −0.04 | 0.01 ** | 0.13 ** | 0.37 *** | 0.13 *** |
Age | - | −0.19 *** | −0.19 *** | 0.01 | 0.04 | 0.03 | 0.09 ** | 0.15 *** | |||
Gender | - | −0.05 | −0.07 * | −0.03 | 0.08 * | −0.01 | 0.05 | ||||
Education | 2.53 | 1.05 | - | 0.27 *** | −0.10 ** | −0.06 | −0.04 | −0.05 | |||
Income | 1.70 | 0.62 | - | 0.05 | 0.01 | −0.01 | 0.02 | ||||
Political Orientation | 3.66 | 1.21 | - | 0.15 *** | −0.01 | 0.02 | |||||
Political Alienation | 4.72 | 1.44 | - | 0.09 ** | 0.23 *** | ||||||
Political Powerless | 3.23 | 0.71 | - | 0.08 * | |||||||
Protest Voting | 4.83 | 1.69 | - |
Model 1 | β | Adj R2 |
Age | 0.062 ns | 0.004 ns |
Education | 0.035 ns | |
Political Orientation | −0.002 ns | |
Model 2 | β | Adj R2 |
Age | 0.062 ns | 0.014 |
Education | −0.011 ns | |
Political Orientation | −0.045 ns | |
Political Alienation | 0.10 ** | |
Model 3 | β | Adj R2 |
Age | 0.033 ns | 0.124 |
Education | −0.049 ns | |
Political Orientation | −0.002 ns | |
Political Alienation | 0.058 ns | |
Political Powerlessness | 0.34 *** | |
Model 4 | β | Adj R2 |
Age | 0.018 ns | 0.135 |
Education | −0.046 ns | |
Political Orientation | −0.001 ns | |
Political Alienation | 0.034 ns | |
Political Powerlessness | 0.34 *** | |
Protest Voting | 0.11 ** |
1 | Data collection for this paper was part of the F.O.R.w.A.R.D. project (www.forwardproject.unisi.it, accessed on 12 March 2025) funded by the M.I.U.R (ID 85901) at the University of Siena. |
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Sex | Frequency | % |
Male | 483 | 48.3 |
Female | 517 | 51.7 |
Age | Frequency | % |
18–30 | 155 | 15.5 |
31–45 | 216 | 21.6 |
46–60 | 283 | 28.3 |
Over 60 | 346 | 34.6 |
Education | Frequency | % |
Middle School Diploma (Low) | 115 | 11.5 |
High School Diploma (Medium) | 519 | 51.9 |
Bachelor’s Degree (Medium) | 125 | 12.5 |
Master’s Degree (High) | 208 | 20.8 |
PhD (High) | 33 | 3.3 |
Income | Frequency | % |
Low | 110 | 11.0 |
Medium/Low | 261 | 26.1 |
Medium | 503 | 50.3 |
Medium/High | 80 | 8.0 |
High | 4 | 0.4 |
I prefer not to answer | 42 | 4.2 |
Political Orientation | Frequency | % |
Left | 141 | 14.1 |
Center | 443 | 44.3 |
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I prefer not to answer | 215 | 21.5 |
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Antonini, M.; Achilli, A.; Gallucci, D.; Heering, M.S.; Rullo, M.; Melacarne, C.; Fabbri, L. Re-Constructing “Populism” as a Signifier of the Changing Meanings of the Political World: The Italian Case. Societies 2025, 15, 98. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc15040098
Antonini M, Achilli A, Gallucci D, Heering MS, Rullo M, Melacarne C, Fabbri L. Re-Constructing “Populism” as a Signifier of the Changing Meanings of the Political World: The Italian Case. Societies. 2025; 15(4):98. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc15040098
Chicago/Turabian StyleAntonini, Matteo, Ambra Achilli, Desirè Gallucci, Maria Sophia Heering, Marika Rullo, Claudio Melacarne, and Loretta Fabbri. 2025. "Re-Constructing “Populism” as a Signifier of the Changing Meanings of the Political World: The Italian Case" Societies 15, no. 4: 98. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc15040098
APA StyleAntonini, M., Achilli, A., Gallucci, D., Heering, M. S., Rullo, M., Melacarne, C., & Fabbri, L. (2025). Re-Constructing “Populism” as a Signifier of the Changing Meanings of the Political World: The Italian Case. Societies, 15(4), 98. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc15040098