Paul Bloom
Certain facets of society are often out of touch with the pulse of the people; the rise of populism is a symptom of this. Academia and politics are notoriously secluded from the experience of the working class person. Many movements start with the people because they make their issues known to those in charge, who may have remained ignorant otherwise. When a movement has enough support, the people in power should feel obligated to enact change to preserve the structure of their society. When they don’t, you see the revolutions of Marxism, overthrowing of governments, and a new leadership instituting change. (The level of success of these revolutions and their outcomes is certainly never ideal.) So, the government will try to preserve their power by appeasing the people. Without a large, bottom up movement, the government will feel no pressure to change.