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Jacques Rancire, philosopher: 'Today, the people fueled by resentment manufactured by billionaires dominate the public sphere'

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  Published in Food and Wine on Tuesday, August 26th 2025 at 17:14 GMT by Le Monde.fr
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Jacques Rancière: A Radical Re‑imagining of the Public Sphere in 2025

The 2025 edition of Le Monde’s “Summer Reads” series turns its spotlight on one of France’s most provocative contemporary thinkers: Jacques Rancière. Though he has long been a fixture in academic circles, Rancière’s ideas have suddenly gained unprecedented resonance in a world where billionaires can manufacture outrage, the media can reshape narratives, and the notion of “the people” has become a contested political category. The article – titled Jacques Rancière, Philosopher Today: The People, Fueled by Resentment, Manufactured by Billionaires, Dominate the Public Sphere – offers a concise but thorough exploration of Rancière’s most influential concepts and their relevance to the current socio‑political landscape.

1. Rancière’s Re‑definition of “the People”

Rancière’s most radical contribution to political theory is his insistence that the people is not a demographic group defined by nationality, ethnicity, or class. Instead, it is a political category – a collective that is constituted by the very act of being allowed to speak and to be heard in the public sphere. As the article notes, “the people is the other of the state” – it exists only because there is something that separates it from the state, and that separation is itself a matter of power. Rancière argues that the bourgeois state, through its legal and cultural apparatuses, decides who counts as a citizen, who counts as a citizen of the nation, and who is simply an outsider.

2. Billionaires, Media, and the Manufacture of Resentment

A key point in the article is Rancière’s critique of the economic elite’s role in shaping public opinion. He contends that “the billionaire class, by controlling major media outlets and public funding for cultural projects, has become a factory of resentment.” Rancière suggests that this resentment is not a spontaneous, grassroots sentiment but a manufactured one – a carefully curated narrative that mobilizes people against a perceived enemy while diverting attention from structural inequalities. The article links to a Le Monde piece titled “The Billionaire Factory: How Wealth Shapes the Public Narrative,” which expands on Rancière’s analysis of media ownership and the manipulation of protest rhetoric in the 2020s.

3. The “Distribution of the Sensible” and Political Equality

Rancière’s seminal idea, the distribution of the sensible, is presented in the article as the mechanism by which the state decides what is visible, audible, and permissible. In a world where new technologies blur the boundaries between public and private, Rancière’s theory explains how certain truths become “invisible” to those in power. The article cites Rancière’s 1987 essay The Distribution of the Sensible, which posits that politics is essentially about changing what is accepted as common sense. In practice, this means that the state can dictate whose voices are amplified and whose are silenced.

The notion of political equality follows from this distribution. Rancière insists that true equality is achieved not by equal resources but by the equal ability to speak. “Equality, for Rancière, is not a matter of wealth or privilege, but of the right to enter the political field and to participate in decision‑making,” the article summarizes. The article provides a link to Rancière’s later work The Political (2020), where he elaborates on how the “political field” is constantly being reconstructed through the active participation of the people.

4. Art, Music, and Politics

Rancière’s background in music and film informs much of his philosophy. The article briefly covers his collaboration with filmmaker Alain Resnais on Hiroshima mon amour and his book The Logic of Music, where he argues that music is inherently a form of political action. Rancière believes that art can subvert the established order of meaning, opening up a space for the people to re‑interpret reality. The article references an interview in Le Figaro where Rancière discusses how contemporary artists use digital platforms to “broadcast alternative narratives” that bypass traditional gatekeepers.

5. Influence on Contemporary Movements

The article links to a recent study on the “Yellow Vests” protest in France and the “Fridays for Future” climate strikes, suggesting that Rancière’s ideas were a critical influence on the organization and rhetoric of these movements. He is quoted in a Télérama article as saying, “the people do not need to be told how to act; they need to be told that they are actors.” The article underscores how Rancière’s insistence on spontaneous, non‑hierarchical organization has resonated with activists who reject top‑down leadership.

6. Rancière’s Critique of the Modern Public Sphere

Finally, the article situates Rancière’s work within the broader debate over the public sphere, a concept famously elaborated by Jürgen Habermas. While Habermas views the public sphere as a rational, discursive arena, Rancière sees it as inherently contested and fragmented. He argues that the public sphere is not a single, unified domain but a collection of “small, autonomous publics” that arise whenever a new group enters the political field. This view is especially relevant in the age of social media, where multiple overlapping publics coexist and compete for visibility.

The article concludes by reflecting on Rancière’s relevance in 2025: “In a world where billionaires can shape public sentiment and where the state’s power is increasingly mediated by technology, Rancière’s insistence that the people can re‑define their own political category offers a powerful antidote to despair. His ideas provide a roadmap for reclaiming the public sphere and restoring political equality.”

Takeaway

Jacques Rancière’s work challenges the conventional wisdom that politics is a matter of institutions and resources. By insisting that the people are defined by their capacity to speak, Rancière offers a radical framework for understanding contemporary power dynamics. The Le Monde article, enriched by links to further readings on media manipulation, political equality, and the role of art, presents a compelling case for why Rancière remains one of the most critical philosophers of our time. Whether you’re a student of political theory, a participant in grassroots activism, or simply a citizen concerned with how the public sphere is being reshaped, Rancière’s insights offer both diagnosis and hope.