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Populism and (Pop) Music Manuela Caiani · Enrico Padoan Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology Series Editors Carlo Ruzza School of International Studies University of Trento Trento, Italy Hans-Jörg Trenz Faculty of Political and Social Sciences Scuola Normale Superiore Pisa, Italy Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology addresses contemporary themes in the field of Political Sociology. Over recent years, attention has turned increasingly to processes of Europeanization and globalization and the social and political spaces that are opened by them. These processes comprise both institutional-constitutional change and new dynamics of social transnationalism. Europeanization and globalization are also about changing power relations as they affect people’s lives, social networks and forms of mobility. The Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology series addresses linkages between regulation, institution building and the full range of societal repercussions at local, regional, national, European and global level, and will sharpen understanding of changing patterns of attitudes and behaviours of individuals and groups, the political use of new rights and opportunities by citizens, new conflict lines and coalitions, societal inter- actions and networking, and shifting loyalties and solidarity within and across the European space. We welcome proposals from across the spectrum of Political Sociology and Political Science, on dimensions of citizenship; political attitudes and values; political communication and public spheres; states, communities, governance structure and political institutions; forms of political participation; populism and the radical right; and democracy and democratization. Manuela Caiani • Enrico Padoan Populism and (Pop) Music Manuela Caiani Enrico Padoan Faculty of Political and Social Sciences Department of Social, Political and Scuola Normale Superiore Cognitive Sciences Florence, Italy University of Siena Siena, Italy Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology ISBN 978-3-031-18578-6 ISBN 978-3-031-18579-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18579-3 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: rolfo / Getty images This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To Emma and Elena A cknowledgements This book draws upon data derived from the project on ‘Popular Music and the Rise of Populism in Europe’ in five European countries (Austria, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Sweden), funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, directed by Professor Mario Dunkel (University of Oldenburg). Any opinions, findings and conclusions in this book are only those of the authors and do not reflect the views of the funding institutions. We warmly thank for the great collaboration and exchanges during these years all the scholars involved in the project: Mario Dunkel, Anna Schwenck, Reinhard Kopanski, André Doehring, Kai Ginkel, Emilia Barna, Ágnes Patakfalvi-Czirják, Melanie Schiller. We also want to thank the scholars who shared their expertise as guest-speakers in the different meetings of the project, and particularly John Street, Mary Taylor and Benjamin Teitelbaum. This project would not have been possible without the enthusiastic participation of volunteers for our musicological group analysis and focus group sessions; for our interviews with militants, activists and representa- tives of the Five Star Movement, the League and the Sardine movement; for our interviews with concertgoers and fans of selected artists. We particularly want to thank all the experts from different fields who offered their (definitely!) educated guesses, as well as the COSMOS (The Center of Social Movement Studies—Scuola Normale Superiore) community for all the exchanges we had on our project. Of course, any weakness of this research is our own responsibility. Many dear colleagues kindly and crucially helped us to organize focus group sessions in different parts of Italy, and we are very grateful to all of vii viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS them, who deserve a mention: Gianni Piazza, Federica Frazzetta, Fabio De Nardis, Nicolò Conti, Mattia Diletti, Paolo Graziano, Ekaterina Domorenok, Lorenzo Bosi, Alice Mattoni, Alberta Giorgi, Silvia Bolgherini, Elena Pavan, Carlo Ruzza, Louisa Parks, Fortunato Musella, Raffaella Fittipaldi. Thanks also to the cultural circles and organizations who hosted us during our focus group sessions, and specifically Fondazione Urbana (Bologna), Circolo Culturale Ergot (Lecce), Circolo Cosmos- Porto Burci (Vicenza), Circolo ARCI Radio AUT (Pavia), Centro Studi Ettore Luccini (Padova), as well as the Treviso Province’s section of the League. Last but not least, to the anonymous referees, to the series’ editors Hans-Jörg Trenz and Carlo Ruzza, to our book editor Elizabeth Graber and to Palgrave Macmillan, we offer our thanks for the extremely useful suggestions and the English editing of this manuscript. Praise for Populism and (Pop) Music “The book is a methodological feast, insightfully operationalizing the sociocul- tural approach to populism and problematizing populism’s relation with a central element of today’s mass culture: popular music. This serious study of the multifac- eted, two-way relationship between popular music and populism in Italy transfigures what many political scientists might regard as irrelevant noise into melodic variations calling for serious analytic discussion. In addition to the expected “flaunting of the low”, with displays of authentic rudeness and of scan- dalizing tastes, we learn of the flaunting of the “Italian average” by politicians and of regional identities and dialects at rallies. Travelling aesthetically from appeals to the popolare (Rocco Hunt’s pisciaiuoli and fruttaioli) to the low poetry of Senza Pagare, and socio-geographically and perhaps politically from Veneto’s local bands to Campania’s rappers—all, so different from Com’è profondo il mare, branded by the high-left Sardines—the volume not only provides a superb analysis of contemporary Italian culture and society, but also, richer insights into their close relation to pre-political sensibilities and—most crucially—to the current spatial structure of Italian party politics than could any cartesian diagram.” —Pierre Ostiguy, University of Valparaíso c ontents 1 Populism, Popular Culture and (Pop) Music: An Introduction 1 1.1 Why Study Populism and (Popular) Culture 5 1.2 Music and Politics 12 1.3 (Pop) Music and Populism: ‘Mind the Gap’ 16 1.4 Populism, Populisms: A Definition (and Its Boundaries) 23 1.5 Populism and (Pop) Music Between Opportunities and Resources: Research Design 25 1.6 Our Case: Italy 30 1.7 Data and Methods 31 1.8 The Content of the Volume 47 References 49 2 Populism and (Pop) Music: Multiple Opportunity Structures in Italy 63 2.1 Music-Market Opportunity Structure in Italy 64 2.2 Political Opportunities 72 2.3 Discursive-Cultural Opportunities 75 2.4 Conclusions 81 References 84 xi