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Action in culture : act I of the presidential primary campaign in the U.S., April to December, 2015
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Mast, Jason L. (2016) Action in culture : act I of the presidential primary campaign in the U.S., April to December, 2015. American Journal of Cultural Sociology, 4 (3). pp. 241-288. doi:10.1057/s41290-016-0009-3 ISSN 2049-7113.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/s41290-016-0009-3
Abstract
This article offers a thick description of the United States during the first nine months of the 2016 presidential election competition. It argues that this competition is organized in a theatrical way, and that this period, from April to December 2015, represents act one of the drama. It argues that performances in act one contribute to setting the cultural and interpretive conditions in which citizens will enter and act back on the drama in its subsequent acts, in state primaries and caucuses, and in the general election in November 2016. Building on the works of Roland Barthes and Clifford Geertz, the article gives a structural, or semiotic, interpretation of the dominant symbols and discourses operating in the dramatic field, and using Alexander’s cultural pragmatics, it identifies and analyzes key performances given by candidates Clinton and Trump, which crystalized particular meaning formations and lent the proceedings a sense of dynamism and flow. The article demonstrates how analyzing performances in a manner consistent with cultural pragmatic theory contributes to research on electoral politics, political authority, and legitimation processes.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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Subjects: | J Political Science > JK Political institutions (United States) | ||||||||
Divisions: | Other > Institute of Advanced Study Faculty of Social Sciences > Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Presidents -- Election, Political campaigns -- United States, Trump, Donald, 1946- , Clinton, Hillary Rodham | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | American Journal of Cultural Sociology | ||||||||
Publisher: | Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. | ||||||||
ISSN: | 2049-7113 | ||||||||
Official Date: | October 2016 | ||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 4 | ||||||||
Number: | 3 | ||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 241-288 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.1057/s41290-016-0009-3 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 3 November 2016 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 27 September 2017 |
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