“We Need a Bit of Trumpism”: Anger and Resentment in Austerity Italy

In this article, I look at anger and resentment as intertwined feelings underlying popular reactions to the perception of state failure in tackling social disparities. I adopt a perspective that articulates the anthropological study of the state with the Gramscian theorization of the integral state...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Antonio Maria Pusceddu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Ledizioni 2021-11-01
Series:Antropologia
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.ledijournals.com/ojs/index.php/antropologia/article/view/1831
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849708353000833024
author Antonio Maria Pusceddu
author_facet Antonio Maria Pusceddu
author_sort Antonio Maria Pusceddu
collection DOAJ
description In this article, I look at anger and resentment as intertwined feelings underlying popular reactions to the perception of state failure in tackling social disparities. I adopt a perspective that articulates the anthropological study of the state with the Gramscian theorization of the integral state. I examine how anger and resentment shape the everyday perceptions of politics in the urban periphery of Brindisi. I organize my analysis around the examination of a corruption scandal that led to the arrest of the mayor, which I deploy as the prism to explore popular relatedness to the state, highlighting the “disconnection of feeling” between the political elite and popular classes. I argue that by framing the resentful feelings of the latter through the idea of disconnection, we can advance a useful description of people’s relatedness to the state in the current historical conjuncture.
format Article
id doaj-art-1c07ca71f93d4f8490b008b96485f31a
institution DOAJ
issn 2281-4043
2420-8469
language English
publishDate 2021-11-01
publisher Ledizioni
record_format Article
series Antropologia
spelling doaj-art-1c07ca71f93d4f8490b008b96485f31a2025-08-20T03:15:39ZengLedizioniAntropologia2281-40432420-84692021-11-018310.14672/ada20211831119-138“We Need a Bit of Trumpism”: Anger and Resentment in Austerity ItalyAntonio Maria Pusceddu0Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, Portugal In this article, I look at anger and resentment as intertwined feelings underlying popular reactions to the perception of state failure in tackling social disparities. I adopt a perspective that articulates the anthropological study of the state with the Gramscian theorization of the integral state. I examine how anger and resentment shape the everyday perceptions of politics in the urban periphery of Brindisi. I organize my analysis around the examination of a corruption scandal that led to the arrest of the mayor, which I deploy as the prism to explore popular relatedness to the state, highlighting the “disconnection of feeling” between the political elite and popular classes. I argue that by framing the resentful feelings of the latter through the idea of disconnection, we can advance a useful description of people’s relatedness to the state in the current historical conjuncture. https://www.ledijournals.com/ojs/index.php/antropologia/article/view/1831austerityclientelismcorruptionitalyrelatednessstate
spellingShingle Antonio Maria Pusceddu
“We Need a Bit of Trumpism”: Anger and Resentment in Austerity Italy
Antropologia
austerity
clientelism
corruption
italy
relatedness
state
title “We Need a Bit of Trumpism”: Anger and Resentment in Austerity Italy
title_full “We Need a Bit of Trumpism”: Anger and Resentment in Austerity Italy
title_fullStr “We Need a Bit of Trumpism”: Anger and Resentment in Austerity Italy
title_full_unstemmed “We Need a Bit of Trumpism”: Anger and Resentment in Austerity Italy
title_short “We Need a Bit of Trumpism”: Anger and Resentment in Austerity Italy
title_sort we need a bit of trumpism anger and resentment in austerity italy
topic austerity
clientelism
corruption
italy
relatedness
state
url https://www.ledijournals.com/ojs/index.php/antropologia/article/view/1831
work_keys_str_mv AT antoniomariapusceddu weneedabitoftrumpismangerandresentmentinausterityitaly