Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasise the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against "the elite". The term dates back to the Populares, (Latin for 'favoring the people', singular popularis) who were a political faction in the late Roman Republic who favoured the cause of the plebeians (the commoners), and has been applied to various politicians, parties, and movements since that time, although it has rarely been chosen as a self-description. Within political science and other social sciences, several different definitions of populism have been employed, with some scholars proposing that the term be rejected altogether.