Kitsch Politics. What stands behind the success of right-wing populism in Poland?

The study aims to explain the recent global surge of populist sentiments and movements from a largely unexplored socio-cultural angle. The present intensification of populism has been largely unexpected and despite numerous attempts at diagnosing the sources of this phenomenon, neither the "economic deprivation" nor the "cultural backlash" theories provide satisfactory explanations and adequate solutions.

My focus on Poland, triggered by the striking popularity of its illiberal right-wing government, provides an opportunity to observe and analyse the social processes 'in the making'. The key question of the thesis is 'what is the relationship between political and cultural populism in Poland?' Political populism is understood as a type of politics that construes the society as divided into two homogenous and antagonistic groups, the 'pure people' and the 'corrupt elite', and claims the former group's will should determine politics. Cultural discourses and practices that underpin and/or promote the populist vision of the world are understudied. Thus my study will fill the gap in the present state of research, dominated by theories concerning economic factors an/or anti-liberal backlash hypotheses. I will endeavour to explain some aspects of populism by using the notion of kitsch, understood as both cultural and political practice. Various conceptions of kitsch and the theories of its popularity and cultural reproduction will be reviewed. The empirical part will include quantitative and qualitative analyses of both the governmental discourses and the relevant areas of popular culture, where the phenomenon of kitsch is located. This topic is of current interest and relevance to cultural policy makers, education reform proponents, and academics.