How German Communication Research Discovered Bourdieu but Missed His Potential for the Study of (Populist) Political Communication

Abstract

Starting with an outline of Pierre Bourdieu’s reception in German-speaking communication research, this article identifies an important omission: his writings on politics and the corresponding symbolic struggles. In particular, the field of research on political communication could profit from the approaches outlined in these publications. This is exemplified by research on populist communication, which has become one of the most important topics in the field of political communication. This contribution argues that, together with Bourdieu’s theory of social class, his conception of politics could be a fruitful way to understand current (right-wing) populism, with its construction of “the people,” its particular claim to representation, as well as its social-structural basis and appeal to certain groups. However, there are several barriers immanent in the dominant approaches to research on political communication that can be understood from the history of the field and that have hindered the adoption of such a perspective in German-speaking communication research.