Why Theorizing and Measuring Shared Experience in Descriptive Representation Is “A Mess Worth Making”

Jane Mansbridge’s (1999) “contingent ‘yes’” amplified a chorus of voices discussing the substantive and symbolic functions historically marginalized groups’ presence in political office. In her essay, Mansbridge points to contexts mistrust uncrystallized interests as domains where enhances “adequate communication” “innovative thinking” for these social groups (628). this many other accounts, linchpin between descriptive representation is group members’ shared experiences, alternatively framed perspectives informed by those experiences. Shared experiences cannot do not produce identical effects (they are filtered through lenses), but they widely understood inform indeed often authenticate representation.