Representation from the People’s Perspective: understanding paradoxical ways of thinking and feeling

This paper looks into people in socio-economically difficult situations’ meaning-making processes to better understand their ways of thinking and feeling about political representation. Drawing on participatory action research conducted in the city of Brussels between September 2018 and November 2021, it shows that people in socio-economically difficult situations, contrary to what is often assumed, are interested in and have a lot to say about political representation. Moreover, it shows that while they are, unsurprisingly, dissatisfied with representative democracy, they still care about it. To that end, this paper addresses how people make meaning of political representation through their own experiences and how they give it the pragmatic meaning of problem solving. Elected representatives are then considered as problem-solvers. However, feelings of powerlessness, imposed hope and increasing frustration drive the process of political meaning-making. The paper concludes with a discussion of the related, broader implications for representative democracy by highlighting the role that emotions play in the formation of political meaning.