“People are afraid”

The 'management of fear' in the negotiation of racism and right-wing populism

Abstract

The article examines the reactions of an East German city administration to a successful racist movement and, as a result, to the 'too right-wing' attitudes of its citizens. With an affect-theoretical focus, the approaches of the city administration employees are presented as a 'management of fear', which legitimises racist attitudes as concerns and fears and differentiates them from the illegitimate hatred of the far right. The concept of the 'management of fear' makes it clear that in current negotiation processes the established dynamics of dealing with the 'right' are failing in the face of new, populist forms of staging by right-wing actors, precisely because the established ways of dealing with racism dethematise racism as a problem affecting the whole of society.