Defending the Traditional Polish Way of Life: The Role of Fantasies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11649/sn.2546Keywords:
neo-traditionalism, poststructuralist discourse theory, fantasy, logics approach, PolishnessAbstract
The current escalation of the cultural conflict in Poland is described as a cultural war between neo-traditionalist and liberal worldviews. Drawing on psychoanalytic political theory and Poststructuralist Discourse Theory (PDT), fantasmatic narratives are deemed as an instrument to conceal the non-necessary character of identities. Based on the direct observation of the counter-marches against LGBT parades in Kalisz, Lublin, and Kraków (2019–2020), this article shows how fantasies define the ‘authentic Polish way of life’: from the traditional family in an idyllic scenario (beatific fantasy) to the ‘LGBT virus’ (horrific fantasy), fantasies sustain a neo-traditionalist conception of Polishness and exclude antagonistic visions. Also, religious symbols are sublimated to embody the lost unity: a harmonious society without the conflict generated by the liberal value system. The fantasmatic logic analyzed in the article explains how neo-traditionalist fantasies strengthen identities and provide the necessary ideological ground to resist the emancipatory impetus of liberalism.
References
Benczes, I., Kollai, I., Mach, Z., & Vigvári, G. (2020). Conceptualisation of neo-traditionalism and neo-feudalism (POPREBEL, Working Paper no. 2).
Biegoń, D. (2016). Hegemonies of legitimation discourse: Dynamics in the European Commission. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137570505 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137570505
Biglieri, P., & Perelló, G. (2020). Populism. In Y. Stavrakakis (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of psychoanalytic political theory (pp. 330–340). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315524771 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315524771-27
Bill, S. (2020). Counter-elite populism and civil society in Poland: PiS’s strategies of elite replacement. East European Politics and Societies: and Cultures, 2020, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1177/0888325420950800 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0888325420950800
Burke, E. (2003). Reflections on the revolution in France. Yale University Press.
Bustikova, L., & Guasti, P. (2017). The illiberal turn or swerve in Central Europe? Politics and Governance, 5(4), 166–176. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v5i4.1156 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v5i4.1156
Buzogány, A., & Varga, M. (2018). The ideational foundations of the illiberal backlash in Central and Eastern Europe: The case of Hungary. Review of International Political Economy, 25(6), 811–828. https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2018.1543718 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2018.1543718
Cap, P. (2018). ‘We don’t want any immigrants or terrorists here’: The linguistic manufacturing of xenophobia in the post-2015 Poland. Discourse & Society, 29(4), 380–398. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926518754416 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926518754416
Carse, A. L. (1994). The liberal individual: A metaphysical or moral embarrassment? Noûs, 28(2), 184–209. https://doi.org/10.2307/2216048 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2216048
Chlebda, W. (2017). Czy polskość jest (słownikowo) definiowalna? Sprawy Narodowościowe: Seria Nowa, 2017(49), Article 1159. https://doi.org/10.11649/sn.1159 DOI: https://doi.org/10.11649/sn.1159
Dąbrowska, E. (2019). New conservatism in Poland: The discourse coalition around Law and Justice. In K. Bluhm & M. Varga (Eds.), New conservatives in Russia and East Central Europe (pp. 92–112). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351020305-5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351020305-5
Fisher, C. (2005). HRD attitudes: Or the roles and ethical stances of human resource developers. Human Resource Development International, 8(2), 239–255. https://doi.org/10.1080/13678860500100616 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13678860500100616
Friedman, J. (1988). Cultural logics of the global system: A sketch. Theory, Culture & Society, 5(2–3), 447–460. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276488005002014 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276488005002014
Friedman, J. (1994). Cultural identity and global process. SAGE. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446222195
Galvan, D. (2007). Neotraditionalism. In M. Bevir (Ed.), Encyclopaedia of governance (pp. 599–601). SAGE.
Glynos, J. (2008). Ideological fantasy at work. Journal of Political Ideologies, 13(3), 275–296. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569310802376961 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13569310802376961
Glynos, J., & Howarth, D. (2007). Logics of critical explanation in social and political theory. Routledge. ttps://doi.org/10.4324/9780203934753 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203934753
Glynos, J., & Howarth, D. (2008). Critical explanation in social science: A logics approach. Swiss Journal of Sociology, 34(1), 5–35.
Gombrowicz, W. (1994). Trans-Atlantyk (C. French & N. Karsov, Trans.). Yale University Press.
Grabowska, M. (2020). Prawa człowieka w polskiej debacie nad aborcją w perspektywie wojen kulturowych: Studium przypadku. In M. Jaszczewska & T. Kopac (Eds.), Chrześcijaństwo (pp. 59–72). Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego.
Hawkins, B. (2015). Fantasies of subjugation: A discourse theoretical account of British policy on the European Union. Critical Policy Studies, 9(2), 139–157. https://doi.org/10.1080/19460171.2014.951666 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19460171.2014.951666
Homer, S. (2020). Lacanian left. In Y. Stavrakakis (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of psychoanalytic political theory (pp. 95–106). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315524771 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315524771-8
Ignazi, P. (1992). The silent counter-revolution: Hypotheses on the emergence of extreme right parties in Europe. European Journal for Political Research, 22(1), 3–34. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.1992.tb00303.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.1992.tb00303.x
Jowitt, K. (1983). New world disorder: The Leninist extinction. University of California Press.
Korolczuk, E., & Graff, A. (2018). Gender as “Ebola from Brussels”: The anticolonial frame and the rise of illiberal populism. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 43(4), 797–821. https://doi.org/10.1086/696691 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/696691
Kotwas, M., & Kubik, J. (2019). Symbolic thickening of public culture and the rise of rightwing populism in Poland. East European Politics and Societies: and Cultures, 33(2), 435–471. https://doi.org/10.1177/0888325419826691 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0888325419826691
Krzyżanowski, M. (2018). Discursive shifts in ethno-nationalist politics: On politicization and mediatization of the “refugee crisis” in Poland. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 16(1–2), 76–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/15562948.2017.1317897 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15562948.2017.1317897
Kubik, J. (2018). FATIGUE and POPREBEL: What are they all about? A programmatic statement: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions. Populism Europe. https://populism-europe.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/
Programmatic-Manifesto-POP-and-FAT-18-October-2019.pdf
Laclau, E. (1990). New reflections on the revolution of our time. Verso.
Laclau, E. (2005a). On populist reason. Verso.
Laclau, E. (2005b). Populism: What’s in a name? In F. Panizza (Ed.), Populism and the mirror of democracy (pp. 32–49). Verso.
Laclau, E., & Mouffe, C. (1985). Hegemony and socialist strategy: Towards a radical democratic politics. Verso.
Melito, F. (2021). Finding the roots of neo-traditionalist populism in Poland: ‘Cultural displacement’ and European integration. New Perspectives, 29(1), 23–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/2336825X20954756 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2336825X20954756
Orbán, V. (2014). Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s speech at the 25th Bálványos Summer Free University and Student Camp: 26 July 2014, Tusnádfürdő (Băile Tuşnad), Romania.https://2015-2019.kormany.hu/
en/the-prime-minister/the-prime-minister-s-speeches/prime-minister-viktor-orban-s-speech-at-the-25th-balvanyos-summer-free-university-and-student-camp
Porter-Szűcs, B. (2017). The birth of the Polak-Katolik. Sprawy Narodowościowe: Seria Nowa, 2017(49), Article 1280. https://doi.org/10.11649/sn.1280 DOI: https://doi.org/10.11649/sn.1280
Rata, E. (2007). The political strategies of ethnic and indigenous elites. In E. Rata, R. Openshaw, & J. Friedman (Eds.), Public policy and ethnicity: The politics of ethnic boundary-making (pp. 40–53). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230625303_3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230625303_3
Remling, E. (2018). Logics, assumptions and genre chains: A framework for poststructuralist policy analysis. Critical Discourse Studies, 15(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2017.1382382 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2017.1382382
Rensmann, L. (2017). The noisy counter-revolution: Understanding the cultural conditions and dynamics of populist politics in Europe in the digital age. Politics and Governance, 5(4),123–135. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v5i4.1123 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v5i4.1123
Rose, J. (2005). The Question of Zion. Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400826520 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400826520
Sadurski, W. (2018). How democracy dies (in Poland): A case study of anti-constitutional populist backsliding (Sydney Law School Research Paper No. 18/01). SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3103491 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3103491
Sharpe, M., & Turner, K. (2020). Fantasy. In Y. Stavrakakis (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of psychoanalytic political theory (pp. 187–198). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315524771 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315524771-15
Shils, E. (1958). Tradition and liberty: Antinomy and interdependence. Ethics, 68(3), 153–165.https://doi.org/10.1086/291166 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/291166
Stavrakakis, Y. (1999). Lacan and the political. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203006160 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203006160
Trencsényi, B. (2014). Beyond liminality? The Kulturkampf of the early 2000s in East Central Europe. Boundary 2, 41(1), 135–152. https://doi.org/10.1215/01903659-2409703 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/01903659-2409703
Walder, A. G. (1986). Communist neo-traditionalism: Work and authority in Chinese industry. University of California Press.
Yatsyk, A. (2020). Biopolitical populism in Poland: The case of PiS. Populism, 3(2), 148–164. https://doi.org/10.1163/25888072-BJA10015 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/25888072-BJA10015
Zicman de Barros, T. (2020). Desire and collective identities: Decomposing Ernesto Laclau’s notion of demand. Constellations, 2020, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8675.12490 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8675.12490
Zielonka, J. (2018). Counter-revolution: Liberal Europe in retreat. Oxford University Press.
Žižek, S. (1989). The sublime object of ideology. Verso.
Žižek, S. (1993). Tarrying with the negative: Kant, Hegel, and the critique of ideology. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11hphn6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11hphn6
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Francesco Melito
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
