Educating for Populist Moments: Describing, Avoiding or Politicizing the Notion of Populism in Social Science Textbooks

In contemporary western democracy, political discourse is marked by pervasive concerns about the state and viability of democratic governance. Worries about democratic backsliding, the popularity of authoritarian leaders, and the rise of reactionary movements expressing discontent and distrust in undemocratic and exclusionary ways form the backdrop of much contemporary writing on democracy. This article explores, through a qualitative content analysis, how and to what extent the concept of populism is used in Norwegian social science textbooks to characterize either troubling or progressive trends in today’s democratic societies. While numerous contributions to democratic education are motivated by challenges often related to the phenomena of populism, little research has been conducted on how the term populism is actually employed in democracy education. This is particularly intriguing given the term’s contentious nature within democratic theory and political science, with different approaches viewing the political challenge of contemporary populism in vastly different ways.