How Voters Feel [Hardcover]

This is a book about voting - what people think they are doing when they cast a vote.What does it mean to think of oneself as a voter? What does the act of voting involve, physically, intellectually and emotionally? What sort of memories, allusions and anxieties are evoked by the phrase, 'It's time to vote'? This is a book about voting  not so much about how people decide which way to vote but about what they think they are doing when they cast a vote. Based on a series of interviews with voters and nonvoters, this book provides unique insight into how it feels to be a democratic citizen.What does it mean to think of oneself as a voter? What does the act of voting involve, physically, intellectually and emotionally? What sort of memories, allusions and anxieties are evoked by the phrase, 'It's time to vote'? This is a book about voting  not so much about how people decide which way to vote but about what they think they are doing when they cast a vote. Based on a series of interviews with voters and nonvoters, this book provides unique insight into how it feels to be a democratic citizen.This book sets out to unearth the hidden genealogies of democracy, and particularly its most widely recognized, commonly discussed and deeply symbolic act, voting. By exploring the gaps between voting and recognition, being counted and feeling counted, having a vote and having a voice and the languor of count taking and the animation of account giving, there emerges a unique insight into how it feels to be a democratic citizen. Based on a series of interviews with a variety of voters and nonvoters, the research attempts to understand what people think they are doing when they vote; how they feel before, during and after the act of voting; how performances of voting are framed by memories, narratives and dreams; and what it means to think of oneself as a person who does (or does not) vote. Rich in theory, this is a contribution to election studies that takes culture seriously.1. Whlã!