Elections as communitas
Banerjee, M.
(2011).
Elections as communitas.
Social Research,
78(1), 75-98.
(2011).
Elections as communitas.
Social Research,
78(1), 75-98.
This essay examines the state of elections within India and discusses why voter turnout remains at approximately 60 percent in a nation where the citizens realize that the material conditions of their lives will not improve from one election to the next. The state of Indian democracy is discussed, and the author concludes that the electoral process provides a sense of community and egalitarianism that suspends the rules of typical social order.