Perform or else

Widespread changes in the processes of the social...are producing what I call the performative society. Performative societies in the contemporary world are found particularly where democracy and capitalism meet. In such societies performance has gained a new kind of potency because multi-party democracy weaves ideological content visibly into the very fabric of society. It follows that, especially in highly mediatised societies, the performative becomes a major element in the continuous negotiations of power and authority. So modern democracies may be described with some accuracy as performative democracies in order to indicate how fully they rely on various types of performances for the maintenance of their political processes and social structures. Moreover, late-capitalist liberal democracies reinforce this by making the market so central to social organsiation. Although the 'performance' of companies, firms, shares, employees, institutions etc may be measured in mundane material and statistical ways., the notion that they are players on an economic or industrial or civil 'stage' is always implied by the usage.Equally, how individuals fare in the competition between life-styles or the struggle for survivialdepends increasingly on their ability to 'perform'. Hence late capitalist multi-party democracies produce societies in which performance pervades cultural process.

Baz Kershaw, 1999