Abstract
The introductory chapter lays out a framework for conceptualising the recent wave of anti-elite rhetoric and sentiments in different arenas. It suggests analytical distinctions between a variety of forms of anti-elite articulations – which allows a better understanding of how they interacted and resonated – and also between egalitarian and non-egalitarian forms of anti-elitism. It situates the recent interest in these matters not only in responses to the populist wave of the mid-2010s but also in more general dynamics of societies structured in dominance, discussing the ways in which cultural politics in different fields have been shaped by anti-elitism at different conjunctures, including the spread of extreme conspiracy theories about hidden elites – and it poses the question how different forms of anti-elitism may have contributed to multiple and interconnected crises. Furthermore, particular attention is paid to anti-elitism as an argument in explanations of the populist wave, as well as the role and the epistemological status of diagnostic narratives of different types and the notion of conjunctural analysis and its purchase. Overall, the chapter discusses anti-elitism not only as an ambiguous pattern in cultural politics but also as an object of normative reflection from which academics – who are targeted by anti-elitism, but may hold egalitarian views themselves – should not refrain. In closing, the chapter asks what happened to anti-elite articulations and what their role might be after that specific historical “moment”.