Anthropology

Marketing Radicalism: The Cultural Production of Far-Right Populism in Contemporary Hungary

The commodification and marketing of nationalism in a populist-governed country

Paperback

Price:
$29.95/拢25.00
ISBN:
Published:
Oct 13, 2026
2026
Pages:
240
Size:
6.13 x 9.25 in.
Illus:
16 b/w illus. 1 table.

Most accounts of populist politics revolve around political parties, electoral politics, eroding democratic institutions, media, and political propaganda. In Marketing Radicalism, Vir谩g Moln谩r examines instead populism as a cultural process鈥攐ne that reshapes cultural identities and meanings of cultural citizenship. Looking at such domains as fashion, publishing, and tourism, Moln谩r shows how identity politics, culture wars, culture industries, consumer markets, and popular culture contribute to the rise of far-right populism. The marketing of nationalism creates powerful narratives that reimagine the nation as a populist fantasyland, and these narratives are used by far-right governments in their efforts to topple liberal norms.

Hungary under Viktor Orb谩n has provided an ideological blueprint for far-right populist politicians鈥攁nd a cautionary tale for liberal democracies. Using Hungary鈥檚 commodification of nationalism as a case study, Moln谩r explores the ways that cultural producers relied on consumer markets to promote traditionalism through folk-revivalist fashion; weaponized the public shredding of a children鈥檚 book to disenfranchise LGBTQ+ communities; used tourism to neighboring Transylvania to envision a 鈥淕reater Hungary鈥 that spilled over national borders; and packaged a mythic Orientalism in the form of horseback archery. Moln谩r鈥檚 account offers important lessons on the mainstreaming of right-wing popular culture, the importance of markets in circulating and amplifying far-right identity narratives, and the political mobilization of cultural traditions for geopolitical reorientation.