Philosophies of Social Science ResearchElements of interpretation: constructivism and the performative

The uses of ‘philosophies’

0Discovering the kind of argument you are building – assumptions about what is, how we can know, and what ought to be

0Clarifying key generic strengths and weaknesses of that kind

0Using awareness to build defences

Political representation

The orthodox theory

0 ‘Representation’ is a tangible, institutional presence in political systems

0A ‘complete picture’ of it is feasible0 It is tied to elections0 It is democratic0 It is done by parties and their candidates0Operates in the nation-state0Centres on ‘responsiveness’

Reasons for disquiet?

0 The social/political presence of representation seems to rest on contextual factors

0 Representation – or speaking for, or standing for, others is a constant claim across societies

0 Non-elected actors claim to represent others as well0 Non-democratic actors claim to represent: dictators, kings &

queens, local activists0 Claims are made at various levels: local, national, global0 Many such claims establish roles, relationships, practices0 Many and varied normative elements, not just responsiveness0 What about aesthetic and cultural representation(s)?

‘The representative claim’

Representation as a product of a dynamic of claim-making and claim-reception At the heart of all political representation is not an institutional fact called representation, but rather a complex of claims to represent and the reception of such claims. A representative claim is a claim that a person or group in some way speaks for, or stands for, the interests of a person or group. It can be a claim made by a person or group, or about them.

The general form of the representative claim

A maker of representations (M) puts forward a subject (S) which stands for an object (O) and is offered to an

audience (A)

[Actors; cultural, aesthetic and political]

Representative claims

1. The MP (maker) offers himself or herself (subject) as the embodiment of constituency interests (object) to that constituency (audience). The object involves a selective portrayal of constituency interests.  2. The Liberal Party (maker) offers itself (subject) as standing for the interests of ‘family’ (object) to the electorate (audience). 3. Marx (maker) offered the working class (subject) as the symbol of revolutionary hope (object) to the would-be members of that class (audience). 4. Anti-globalisation demonstrators (makers) set up themselves and their movements (subjects) as representatives of the oppressed and marginalised (object) to western governments (audience).

Claim to represent

the interests of a person

Claim to embody

the needs of a group of people

Claim to stand for

the desires of a country or region

Claim to know the wants of animalsClaim to symbolise

the preferences

of sentient nature

Claim to project

the true character

of non-sentient nature

Variation of representative claims

The representative claim framework stresses representation’s:

variability: formal and informal, electoral and non-electoral, national and trans-national

contingency and dynamism: a constant process of making, receiving, accepting or rejecting representative claims;

partiality: all representation is partial and incomplete;

aesthetic and cultural character: making representations or portrayals;

constitutive effects: shaping constituencies, audiences and identities.

Unorthodox representatives?

0 "I represent a lot of people [suffering from AIDS in Africa] who have no voice at all ... They haven't asked me to represent them.  It's cheeky but I hope they're glad I do". (Bono, 2004)

0 ‘I will live and die for India … bigger than the parliament at Delhi is the parliament of the people’.(Ana Hazare, 2011)

0 ‘Malala [Yusufzai] represents the countless young girls in Pakistan and around the world who are unwilling to accept the denial of their basic human rights’.

0 Commentator Stefan Meister, on Pussy Riot ‘The three women stand for a new generation of young Russians who are not afraid of the system, who are politically engaged, and who defy the regime through bold performances’.

0 Alternatively, according church lawyer, Pussy Riot represents some form of ‘higher power, trying to destroy the Russian Orthodox Church’.

Constructivism: the view that social institutions, broadly understood, are constructed and maintained through actors’ practices.

‘…. The thesis that social identities depend on audience ascriptions’ (Lynch)

Performative: the view that certain kinds of speech acts, (and other acts?) can create ‘social facts’, understandings and identities of varied kinds in the world.

How to back into constructivism without really trying

- Refusal to accept a familiar social-political institution as having a given form

- Refusal to defend discipline boundaries, e.g. political science and cultural studies

- Refusal to ignore profound differences in cultural practices and understandings

- Refusal of the rush to the normative- New avenues, distinctions and decisions

How to back into performativity without really trying

- Claims can create ‘social facts’- Claims can constitute self and other (‘subjectivities’)- The power of ‘iterated’ or repeated claims- Showing doing: “Political leaders everywhere have

come to understand that to govern they must learn how to act” (Arthur Miller)

- New avenues, distinctions and decisions

And maybe phenomenology too?

- ‘Back to the things themselves’- The attractions of description – ‘whatness’- The uses of bracketing- Delay (at least) of the ‘normative implications’

The need to pay attention 1

1. X need not have existed, or need not be at all as it is at present, is not determined by the nature of things; it is not inevitable

2. X is quite bad as it is3. We would be much better off if X were done away

with, or at least radically transformed (Hacking 2000, 6)

TNTPA 2

What is socially constructed?

The ‘thing’?Everything?Ideas of the thing?

TNTPA 3

From the performative and constative ….…. to the illocutionary and the perlocutionary.

And the challenge to innovate: - ‘performative performances’?- ‘shape-shifting representation’?

But what about the normative?

The power of intuition?

One more challenge to innovate: audience acceptance under conditions

Democratic legitimation of representative claims

Provisionally acceptable claims to democratic legitimacy across society are those for which there is evidence of sufficient acceptance of claims by appropriate constituencies under reasonable conditions of judgement

Intended Actual Appropriate

Constit-uency

The group the claimant claims to speak for (and as part of that, speaks about). Maker-driven.

The group whose members recognise the claim as being for and about them, who see their interests as being implicated in a claim. May accept, reject, contest or ignore the claim. Recipient-driven.

Intended + actual

Audience The group to which the claim is addressed. Maker-driven.

The group whose members are conscious of receiving (e.g. hearing, reading) the claim. May accept, reject, contest or ignore the claim. Recipient-driven.

1. For a specific dyad – a claim that A represents B - is there a sufficient degree of acceptance by the appropriate constituency? 2. Are the conditions within which that acceptance is given conducive to open and uncoerced choices by members of the appropriate constituency? 3. If we zoom out from specific instances, to what extent are conditions conducive to uncoerced and open acceptance acts replicated at a systemic level?

 4. Is there a plurality of sites, moments or opportunities for representative claim-making and reception (the extent of openness to many claims)?5. To what extent is there uncoerced equal access to subject-positional resources for claim-making?6. To what degree is there variation in the nature representative claims in the given context (openness to different sorts of claims and claimants)?7. To what extent are claim-makers responsive, and contestation encouraged?

The uses of ‘philosophies’

0Discovering the kind of argument you are building – assumptions about what is, how we can know, and what ought to be

0Clarifying key generic strengths and weaknesses of that kind

0Using awareness to build defences0…. And the impetus to further innovation?