Power of the People : En Antropologisk studie om valdeltagande i Sverige

• Main Author: Andersson, Tommy
• Format: Others
• Language: Swedish
• Published: Uppsala universitet, Kulturantropologiska avdelningen 2012
• Subjects: Demokrati
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-175268

The idea of the democratic promise is equality and freedom for all. But how can it be that we participate in the democratic electoral process and which meaning do we put into our participation? This study takes us through the democratic idea from an anthropological perspective and try to give an interpretation of the phenomenon of electoral participation. The essay starts with describing the anthropological view on democracy and then turns to the output in Pierre Bourdieu's theories of the election as a mysterious and concealing ritual. This is followed by interviews with people where I simply ask them why they get involved in electoral processes. I find the answer that participation depends on the logical idea that democracy has implemented in my informants and to vote has become the rational and logical, rather than mysterious.