In this article, we argue that the origins of kitsch and populism can be interpreted similarly – as expressions of various defence mechanisms and the pursuit of pleasure. Both phenomena ultimately express the profound existential anxieties and psychological needs of modern humankind related to modernization processes. From the perspective adopted here, populism is not a matter of supply, but of demand, marked directly by the nature of mass culture, which not only provides various pleasures but also heightens the sense of threat and the need for defence. Here, we will combine theories of modernity and aesthetics with elements of psychoanalysis.