Descriptive Representation
In politics, descriptive representation entails the elected official representing their constituencies and the interests of their identity groups based on their identity characteristics. As such, in descriptive representation, the elected official is a representative of interests and ideas of his race, geographical areas or socioeconomic group. In this representation, the political candidate does not use policies to lure voters to elect him but capitalizes on the groups of identity such as race and socioeconomic status to appeal to the electors. The elected official who pursues descriptive representation seeks to represent the ideas that are politically relevant to the constituents and that emanate from identity characteristics.
Descriptive Representation Matters
Based on socioeconomic factor as an identity category, descriptive representation matters in politics because it brings out the characteristics of people that the elected official represents. If the elected official claims to represent the interests of identity groups with low income, they have to come up with descriptions that show the needs of the constituents. In making these descriptions, the elected official is likely to make the other representatives understand the characteristics of his identity group and why its interests are important matters to be represented by an elected official. Descriptive representation also matters in politics because it reflects the voting patterns of a state. In this case, the elected officials and voters tend to seek understanding of their identity and why they vote based on a given pattern (Clark 345). As such, the politics of a state can be predicted based on the descriptive representation. The predictability emanates from the fact that voters and political candidates tend to use the identity characteristics as their major concern that requires national policy. Thus, they can form a pattern of voting for candidates that are vocal about socioeconomic inequalities in a state.
Although descriptive representation matters in many states, it does not change the thinking about its role and impacts in states politics. However, this representation might have different weights across states (Scherer and Curry93). Weight, in this case, refers to the importance that the electorate attaches to identities and how they influence politics. For instance, there are states that can give more weight than others on the issue of socioeconomic background as an identity concern and that influences how they are represented.
Impacts of Descriptive Representation On Politics
Descriptive representation changes the focus of policies in state politics. For instance, when an elected official claims to represent the interests of his socioeconomic group, then he will support policies and incentives that aim at addressing the social and economic affairs of the state. Interestingly, these affairs may not touch on the whole constituency but because the representative represents the majority, the affairs are given priority in policy interventions. According to Clark, descriptive representation changes the focus of representation from the general needs of a state to the specific socioeconomic needs of the constituents (345). Therefore, leaders elected in descriptive representation pursue policies that tend to help the identity group and not the public policy touching on areas that they represent. These leaders do not pursue collective representation of interests but the interests that serve to uplift their socioeconomic backgrounds (Scherer and Curry 97).
As noted earlier, descriptive representation can be used to predict who is to be elected as a representative of the state. When a state gives much weight to the socioeconomic background as an identity group, it will strive to elect a person that represents its socioeconomic interests. In such a case, if a political candidate wants to represent the state or constituency in the Congress, they will have to play their socioeconomic card for them to be elected. In such a state, the public is aware of the socioeconomic background of the political candidate (Jones 179). Based on this background, electors gauge the suitability of the candidate in representing the interests of their group. If the candidate comes from the socioeconomic group which has the majority of voters. he is likely to win. As such, one can predict the politics of a state based on their identity category that they use to get descriptive representation.
Descriptive representation affects the voter tumout in state and local politics. In an election where voters feel that the political office will not represent their interests based on identity category of socioeconomic background, some of them can fail to turn out to vote. This move is triggered by the feeling that voters should elect people that represent their socioeconomic needs as Jones points out (193). By failing to vote, the electors do not feel losing anything given that their socioeconomic needs are not tied to the political office. This phenomenon explains why some political posts could attract more voters than others in the same state. However, when a political office is associated with making policies that touch on social and economic issues, people in such a state will turn out in large numbers to ensure their voice is heard.
