This episode is titled “How Discontent Destabilizes Democracy”.
This episode begins with Chris Beem talking about the idea that all across the political spectrum, there is an agreed sense of discontent with current politics in America. One of the issues is economic. Many people wonder how the economic downturn in this country came to be. Part of the reason, according to many people, is the idea of culture and how it ties into the economic state of our country. Many people feel as though people who used to feel economically powerful no longer feel that way. Both Smith and Beem refer to a book titled “The Age of Discontent: Populism, Extremism, and Conspiracy Theories in Contemporary Democracies” to assist with their opinions about the idea of discontent in democracy.
One of the authors of the book, Matthew Rhodes-Purdy, spoke on the episode and said something that stuck out to me. He said, “And we think there’s something underlying all this, which is just this general sense that democracy is not working for people anymore” (Rhodes-Purdy). This creates a debate between people who may be angry about the democratic state of this country because of reasons like job loss, and those that do appreciate democracy. He also defined Democratic discontent by claiming that discontent is a more intense and deep unhappiness with the way that things are, combined with the building of this feeling over time to result in feeling as though the normal mechanisms of democracy that work to change things that are not going well are not functioning properly. Something important that he states is that there is always going to be certain percentage of the population that are just going to be frustrated and angry, and there is nothing you can do to totally get rid of this discontent. I think so often we, as a nation, strive to try and please everyone politically, or we think that a certain governmental change or political candidate is going to make us politically content, when often this is not the case.
Jenna Spinelle refers to a part of the book with the metaphor that economics are the roots, culture is the branch, and emotions are the trunk that connects the two. Rhodes-Purdy then expands upon this by describing his theory that economics, emotions, and culture is what produces the discontent, and the tree emphasizes how these all relate to one another in a metaphorical way.
This episode was a valuable resource when trying to understand why people are often so angry at the way that politics, specifically the economy and culture, work in this country. I think it would be very helpful to read the book “The Age of Discontent: Populism, Extremism, and Conspiracy Theories in Contemporary Democracies” to understand even more about where this discontent comes from and how we can work towards changing things for the better in this country.