DistantNews
Support us
🇳🇴 Norway /Elections & Politics

Not all concern is right-wing populism. Some of it is justified

From Aftenposten · () Norwegian

Translated from Norwegian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Opinion Named sources Context piece
  • Kaja Melsom argues that criticism of right-wing populist rhetoric should not dismiss genuine anxiety about insecurity, inequality and declining opportunity.
  • She points to housing affordability, saying a single nurse could afford only about one in 30 homes sold in Oslo during the first half of 2026.
  • The article distinguishes between real social problems and the explanations right-wing populists offer for them.

Do not dismiss anxiety as whining, Kaja Melsom argues. In a response to Ketil Raknes, she says his criticism of right-wing populism risks erasing the difference between alarmist narratives and legitimate concern.

Raknes has described how right-wing populists turn loss and dissatisfaction into political power. Drawing on German sociologist Andreas Reckwitz, he presents these movements as “loss-industrial complexes,” transforming lost faith in the future, status and meaning into politics. Real problems become evidence of a civilization nearing collapse. Elites, immigrants, minorities, feminists or “globalists” are blamed, while lost greatness is promised in return.

collective culture of whining

· Ketil RaknesRaknes used the phrase to describe Western political culture, a characterization Melsom criticizes.

Melsom accepts that description, but challenges Raknes’s language about a “collective culture of whining” and debates being “completely detached from objective reality.” Such wording, she says, can treat people experiencing loss, insecurity and powerlessness as if they merely need their view of reality corrected.

completely detached from objective reality

· Ketil RaknesRaknes used this phrase about some political debates, which Melsom says risks dismissing genuine anxiety.

Norway’s strong international rankings do not settle the issue. Seven of the world’s 10 happiest countries are in Europe, and Norway ranks near the top on living-standard measures. But those rankings say little about differences within a country or how groups have fared over time.

The housing figures illustrate the gap. According to the nurse index for the first half of 2026, a single nurse could afford roughly one of every 30 homes sold in Oslo. Access had also become harder for ordinary wage earners in Bergen, Stavanger and Tromsø. A young man may be wrong to blame immigrants, feminists or “globalists” for his inability to find a place in society. But the feeling that opportunities are narrowing, Melsom writes, does not have to be imagined.

loss-industrial complexes

· Andreas ReckwitzThe German sociologist’s term is used to describe how right-wing populist movements turn experiences of loss into politics.
About this summary

Originally published by Aftenposten in Norwegian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog