The Philosophical Foundation of Alt-Right Politics and Ressentiment

William Remley traces the ascent of the alt-right movement to its prominent place in American politics. Social Dominance Theory and the philosophical work of Sartre and Nietzsche are used to look at how group formation and hierarchies have given rise to the authoritarian leadership and the anti-foreign sentiment that rules American politics today.

Since its inception, America has laid claim to a liberal democratic style of government with various well-known philosophical tenets. Yet the underlying beliefs or political philosophy of one of the movements that opposes liberal democratic forms of government—the alt-right—are relatively unknown. The Philosophical Foundation of Alt-Right Politics and Ressentiment is a timely book that analyses how the principles of current American politics have developed. William Remley asserts that the philosophy of Traditionalism is central to the alt-right’s understanding of itself and explores the perceived threat to social status that seems to have propelled the movement to its prominent place in American politics. Remley uses Social Dominance Theory and the philosophical work of Jean-Paul Sartre and Friedrich Nietzsche to look at how group formation and hierarchies have given rise to authoritarian leadership and how a tendency that can be best described and explained through Nietzsche’s concept of ressentiment led to the anti-foreign sentiment that rules American politics today.