Representation transforms the identity of those represented, not merely transmits their will

Evidence

The function of the representative is not simply to transmit the will of those he represents, but to give credibility to that will in a milieu different from the one in which it was originally constituted. That will is always the will of a sectorial group, and the representative has to show that it is compatible with the interests of the community as a whole. It is in the nature of representation that the representative is not merely a passive agent, but has to add something to the interest he represents. This addition, in turn, is reflected in the identity of those represented, which changes as a result of the very process of representation. — Ernesto Laclau, On Populist Reason, 312

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Marginal groups gain a political will only through representation itself — Ernesto Laclau, On Populist Reason, 313; Constructing a people reveals representation as the primary terrain of social objectivity — Ernesto Laclau, On Populist Reason, 322; The meaning of ‘representation’ shifted from delegation to identity presence in media — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 619 (+13 more)

Broader Connections

• Identity is constituted within representation rather than pre-existing it #corroborates (0.95)
• Identity is constituted through representation, not expressed from lived experience. #corroborates (0.90) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 291
• Being named by others can produce the very identity one then inhabits. #exemplifies (0.90)
• Individual identity forms dialogically through a constitutive outside, not autonomously. #corroborates (0.85) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 363
• Representation meaning arises independently of authorial intention and depends on preexisting social knowledge #expands (0.80) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 743
• Identity is constituted through relation to what is other and different from itself #complicates (0.75) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 378
• Identity is internally mediated by the non-identical #complicates (0.75) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1223
• The situation is constituted from Others’ meanings rather than from being itself #complicates (0.75) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 444
• Identity is both a source of agency and increasingly constructed rather than given #qualifies (0.75)
• Individual identity is strengthened by representation in others’ attention #corroborates (0.72) — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 493
• Identity is formed through contrast with difference #complicates (0.72)
• Identity is constituted through exclusion of what it is not #complicates (0.72)
• Identity is constructed through opposition to a continuously reinterpreted other #complicates (0.72)