Leverage politics: using money, trade, prestige or shame to exert power. Symbolic politics: the ability to call upon symbols, actions or stories that make sense of a situation. The symbolism can occur in various media including banners, acronyms, pictures, flags, mottos, and countless more. Information politics: the ability to generate politically usable information. Symbols might be arbitrary or natural, but this is of little relevance because the connection between a symbol and its referent is about feelings rather than likeness, in contrast to descriptive representation. Political symbolism is symbolism that is used to represent a political standpoint. Hibbing2 Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016 Abstract One of the major challenges in providing quality representation comes from the desire to balance the will of the majority with the needs of political minorities. Although descriptive representation means that a representative body reflects the composition of the people that are being represented, symbolic representation implies that a representative symbolises a constituency, for example, the way a king is a symbolic figure for the nation. The Symbolic Benets of Descriptive and Substantive Representation Matthew Hayes1 Matthew V.
Within this classification scheme, symbolic representation is presented as one way of standing for a social group.
He suggested that humans respond to their definition of a situation rather than to the objective situation itself. For example, Red flags have traditionally been flown by socialists, left-wing radicals, and communist groups to represent the 'blood of the workers'. The symbolism can occur in various media including banners, pictures, and flags. Thomas (1966) emphasized the importance of definitions and meanings in social behavior and its consequences. Political symbolism is symbolism that is used to represent a political standpoint or party. 2 Pitkin famously distinguishes between representation as ‘standing for’ and representation as ‘acting for’ another, that is, a distinction between what a representative is and what she does. definitions and meanings that are created and maintained through symbolic interaction with others. In his outline of a framework for analysing political representation, Törnquist 1 highlights the lasting influence of Pitkin’s classic study of The Concept of Representation. Symbolic representation is a key dimension of political representation and deserves critical attention when the agenda is to rethink popular representation. Palgrave Studies in Governance, Security, and Development