PRéTENDRE REPRÉSENTER. LA CONSTRUCTION SOCIALE DE LA REPRÉSENTATION POLITIQUE/MAKING REPRESENTATIVE CLAIMS. THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF POLITICAL REPRESENTATION

• Published in: Revue française de science politique Vol. 66; no. 1; p. 7
• Main Authors: Dutoya, Virginie, Hayat, Samuel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Paris HUMENSIS, Presses Universitaires de France 01-02-2016
• Subjects: Bourdieu, Pierre (1930-2002); Composition; Identity; Political philosophy; Political representation; Power; Social construction
• ISSN: 0035-2950; 1950-6686

Does the notion of a representative claim, defended in particular by Michael Saward, introduce a constructivist turn in the study of political representation? The idea that representatives impose an identity on the represented already existed in Hobbes or Pierre Bourdieu. But Anglo-American political theory, especially since Hanna Pitkin's book, was built on a conception of representation as composition, in which the represented existed before its representation. The interest of Saward's approach is to consider representative claims as proposals that might or might not be accepted, rejected or rearticulated by the represented. The articles in this special issue take this approach seriously and put them to the test in different field studies, emphasizing the performative and establishing capacity, and inscription in power relations, of representative claims.