Politics: what does “populist” mean?

Self-tutoring about politics: the tutor mentions the ideas of “populist” and “populism.”

I received clarification about the terms populist and populism from the York University website: see here. I will draw from the ideas presented therein to produce this post.

Populism, according to York, is a belief that society is made of two sets: a corrupt ruling class vs a working class. A populist appeals to the working class, which one assumes outnumber the ruling class, but are subjugated nonetheless.

Populists can be of various flavours: free market or socialist, nationalist or inclusive. They generally ask the working class to accompany them in rising up against the ruling class in order to bring justice.

A small-c conservative would be less likely to be embrace populism, since conservatives generally disapprove of drastic change.

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.

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