Den revolterande eliten eller den kreativa klassen?

Christopher Lasch, Richard Florida och det amerikanska presidentvalet 2024

Abstract

The revolting elite or the creative class? Christopher Lasch, Richard Florida and the 2024 US presidential election

Aims. The Trump movement displays several key features of a populist movement with a strong leader and a broad unorganized base of followers opposed to a perceived liberal elite establishment. In 2024, Trump gained strong support from strata with low income, low education and Hispanic men, previously not strong supporters of Republicans. This study investigates the preconditions for a populist movement by comparing Christopher Lasch’s book “The Revolt of the Elites” (1995) with Richard Florida’s “The Rise of the Creative Class” (2002). Results. According to Lasch, the educated and privileged segments of society have failed democracy by their aversion against debate and lack of respect for opposing opinions in their project to pursue liberalizing politics regarding cultural values and globalist economic policies. According to Florida, the creative class, with liberal values concerning lifestyle, culture, open borders and internationalism, is a benevolent factor for a creative economy. Both describe the same phenomenon from diametrically opposed standpoints, indicating factual consistency. Conclusions. The notion that the revolting elites/creative class exist as collective actor is supported. There are indications of radicalization in terms of agenda (e.g. woke culture and economic globalism) and methods (e.g. cancel culture) in recent decades, but preconditions for the populist reaction existed in the 1990s.