XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018)

320

Legitimacy Troubles: New Theorizing in the Trumpist, Post-Brexit World

RC16 Sociological Theory (host committee)

Language: English

In the wake of a global economic crisis and military adventurism in the Middle East, legitimacy troubles are spreading through Europe and the United States. Democratic institutions and sites of interpretive authority are increasingly being challenged. While for decades much political sociology and social theory has focused on power, contemporary developments such as the instability in the EU, Brexit, and the 2016 US presidential election, indicate that new attention and theorizing dedicated to legitimacy is in order. This panel presents new theorizing on the concept of legitimacy, as well as empirical investigations into the rise of populism, ethnonationalism, and right wing politics in these sites and around the globe.