What role does the culture industry play in fermenting right-wing populist and conspiratorial discourse? This paper addresses this question through a case study of the comedian/actor/content creator Russell Brand and his drift from agitating for a progressive left-wing populism to a more right-wing populist conspiratorial discourse.
Adopting a theoretical frame that integrates Adorno and Horkheimer’s notion of the culture industry with that of three different conceptualisations of populism (as a political style, mass response and form of thin-centred ideology), the paper argues that Brand’s shift to a right-wing populist conspiratorial discourse is driven by economic logic. The paper undertakes a thematic analysis of one-month’s content of Brand’s YouTube channel which reveals that while Brand claims to reside on the margins fighting the mainstream media as a ‘free thinker’ resisting censorship and seeking the truth, his populist style remains part of the varieties of the culture industry. Brand’s conspiratorial populist ideology which focuses on conspiracies associated with the covid vaccine, climate change, the ‘great reset’ and 15-minute cities, among others, is evidently a response to a willing and receptive audience that presents him with a rational economic opportunity. Thus, Brand exists in a dialogical relationship with his audience, discursively aligning himself with their shared concerns and conspiratorial views, all the while offering access to exclusive content at a price. The significance of the findings is twofold. Firstly, the analysis demonstrates the important role of the culture industry in establishing and pushing values and norms which underpin contemporary forms of right-wing populist and conspiratorial discourse. If we are to understand the contemporary crisis of liberal democracy and the threat posed by right-wing conspiratorial discourse, we must understand the culture which undergirds it. Secondly, the economic logic of Brand’s content illustrates that while content creators such as Brand and others on the populist right may claim to be on the periphery of the mainstream culture industry, they still present a similar ‘sameness’ in their content and do not represent a genuine critical approach outside of the mainstream. Rather it is the mainstream culture industry’s effort to capture the periphery via an easy consumable package which then only serves to feed the growth of right-wing populist discourse.
About the lecturer
Rico Isaacs is a Professor of International Politics at the University of Lincoln and Visiting Professor at Riga Stradinš University. His research expertise was initially rooted in post-Soviet politics and on issues related to authoritarianism, democracy and nationalism in Central Asia, particularly Kazakhstan. Of late, his work has turned to addressing interdisciplinary issues related to contemporary populism. This includes exploring the relationship between populism and the environment, and populism and the culture industry. Rico has authored eight books, including three research monographs, and has published many articles in journals including Europe-Asia Studies, Democratization, Contemporary Politics, Globalizations, and Nationalities Papers. He is also currently serving as editor of Central Asian Survey.
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