"Hearts and Minds": Bringing Symbolic Politics Back In

Abstract

Materialist and rationalist models of collective action often fail to explain political outcomes because they ignore the impact of normative and affective representations, a deficiency that can be remedied by paying attention to symbolic politics. This article uses a framework drawn from theories of narrative to explain political struggle as a competition between established canons and counter-hegemonic challenges, to indicate the conditions under which counter-hegemonic challenge is most likely to succeed in inspiring collective action, and to suggest appropriate research strategies for studying symbolic politics.