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Prefigurative Democracy and Cultural Co‐Production

Author

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  • Roberto Farneti

    (Faculty of Economics and Management, Free University of Bozen‐Bolzano, Italy)

Abstract

This article advances a normative conception of political culture that resists its conventional treatment as a sociological fact. Instead, it proposes to understand culture as a generative field of norm production. Bridging normative political theory and cultural sociology, the argument demonstrates that culture, far from being a secondary reflection of political structures, performs constitutive work in shaping democratic imagination. Drawing on authors such as Saidiya Hartman and David Hebdige, the article highlights the power of aesthetic forms to translate private sensibilities into collective experiments in innovating political culture. Ultimately, it calls for a normative rehabilitation of culture as a site of democratic invention: a medium through which new values, solidarities, and institutional possibilities emerge. Rather than theorizing political change as a product of disruption or revolution, the article situates it within everyday creative practices that challenge treasured identities.

Suggested Citation

  • Roberto Farneti, 2026. "Prefigurative Democracy and Cultural Co‐Production," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 14.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v14:y:2026:a:11709
    DOI: 10.17645/pag.11709
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Koopmans, Ruud & Zürn, Michael, 2019. "Cosmopolitanism and Communitarianism – How Globalization Is Reshaping Politics in the Twenty-First Century," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 1-34.
    2. Inglehart, Ronald, 1988. "The Renaissance of Political Culture," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 82(4), pages 1203-1230, December.
    3. Riccardo Pozzo & Andrea Filippetti & Mario Paolucci & Vania Virgili, 2020. "What does cultural innovation stand for? Dimensions, processes, outcomes of a new innovation category," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 47(3), pages 425-433.
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