Dog-whistling and democracy

Abstract

Despite our fascination with dog-whistling, neither dog-whistling itself, nor the relationship between dog-whistling and democracy are well understood. This article separates the content from the technique of dog-whistling and develops a more precise conceptualisation of that phenomenon in order to untangle the ambiguity about it. Dog-whistling, it argues, should not be reduced to racism or verbal communication tactics but can be combined with various different worldviews, and can encompass a multiplicity of verbal and non-verbal communicative means which surreptitiously nudge or wink at a specific subgroup. Contra the prevalent conviction that dog-whistling is antithetical to democracy in toto, the article suggests that some manifestations of that phenomenon constitute a ‘lesser vice’ vis-à-vis a politics of zealous candour, and an ineluctable feature of democratic politics. This recognition has important implications for democratic theory, and recent lamentations that ours is an age of moral crisis, marked by the rise of post-truth politics.