Backlash Blues: Assessing How Political Scientists Conceptualize (or Don’t) Reactionary Force

This study references 1,211 articles that mention “backlash” in sixteen political science journals to investigate how the term is understood and used in political science. We find that while backlash is frequently invoked to describe fast and reactionary force, who is impacted by backlash and how is often left unspecified. To address this gap, we suggest a distinction between two major dimensions of backlash. The first is embodied backlash, a treatment of the concept that centers negative impacts to marginalized groups and conflict over the distribution of power, and the second is indiscriminate backlash, which encompasses the large variety of backlash against inanimate objects and processes. A thorough review of the literature leads to our argument that embodied backlash is a necessary, but insufficient step for understanding the range of work backlash is purported to do. We conclude by arguing that several sets of questions require clarification before, and if, backlash can serve to meaningfully describe marginalized experiences of negative force and serve as a basis for analysis.