Elections in any country are one of the most basic areas of political participation for the people. However, some may believe that elections reinforce conservative tendencies and do not fundamentally provide the basis for profound change and reform. As Michels points out to those who hold such beliefs, the choice of one to hand over power to others is not a precise argument, and that means handing overpower, and this destroys the power of the electorate over the elect.
Regardless of the opinion, we mentioned about the election. Some also believe that elections can be effective in determining the rulers, determining the general policies of the system, and delegating or depriving the government of its public power. However, it is possible that sometimes the product of an election can be a dictatorial and authoritarian state, and sometimes it can become an informality by distancing itself from its nature. But elections are in any case a fundamental arena that, even if ceremonial, is deemed necessary. [1]
Because the author has written this memo with the hypothesis of a significant impact on the lives of the people. The present study was conducted to investigate the “role of elections in the formation of public mentalities and its impact on future actions” In the following, we will review the findings of this study.
Elections are one of the factors affecting political stability
One of the main indicators of national security is political stability. Insecurity, there are different schools, each of which looks different in terms of defining a security reference. As in the English school, Wales and Copenhagen, respectively, the government and the individual, the individual and the people (with an emphasis on human security), and finally the Copenhagen school with an emphasis on desecuritization, the government, and the community as a source of security Is. Apart from developing countries and illegitimate political regimes that have made their political regimes the source of security. [1] In general, it can be said that “people” are the most important source of security in any political system. When we consider the people as the source of security, we must keep in mind that security is supposed to serve them and we are going to address the threats that are facing this sector.
The irreplaceable role of the system of preferences in the action of individuals
In a model, Bourdieu describes the formation of lifestyles in such a way that the objective living conditions and position of the individual in the social structure lead to the production of a habit for the individual, which includes a practical and military system including perceptions and cognitions. Eventually, these two systems become the cause of the formation of a lifestyle. [2] If we want to explain the system of preferences in a simple way, in fact, the system of preferences becomes the system of perceptions and cognitions that Bourdieu mentioned.
When a person is about to do something, he must have the motivation and motivation to do it. The motivation has only a theoretical and mental form and only arises from man’s knowledge of his surroundings. That is, a person first receives data as primary data from their surroundings, including the physical environment, friends and acquaintances, events, and happenings through initial and immediate observation or virtual and oral. After receiving this data, the person performs analyzes influenced by his system of preferences and finally decides what to do. It must be borne in mind that even “passivity” itself is a reaction born of this system of preferences. Therefore, the main motivator in any action is the system of preferences. [3]
Campaigning and information explosion of contacts
During each election, many advertisements in different written and illustrated formats are produced by each candidate and made available to the audience. These advertisements include two types: 1. Negative advertisements and 2. Positive advertisements. In the first type, propaganda involves issues of destruction, revelation, discourse aggression, and other creation with other representatives. Also, in the second type of advertising, candidates try to persuade people to make their own choices by highlighting their abilities and using persuasion techniques. [4]
In the process, we noted that by considering several candidates with different and conflicting discourses, it can be stated that the audience is constantly exposed to a very large amount of advertising. This amount of advertising can cause its audience to face many problems that lead to confusion and even inactivity. [5]
Factors influencing the selection of candidates by the audience
There are several factors that cause an audience to turn to a candidate, if we want to summarize, these factors can be:
1. Desire for the person who is thought to have won the election. The audience is always willing to support strong personalities;
2. Political views can be one of the reasons that attract a person to a candidate with a closer discourse;
3. Fear of being selected for other candidates can be one of the reasons for attracting a particular candidate;
4. Defining the common interest of the audience between themselves and one of the candidates;
Although other factors can be mentioned in addition to the above, in general, the possible reasons will generally be included in one of these four cases.
Electoral actions and their cognitive impact on actors
Undoubtedly, the desire of the audience for the candidates causes them to perform actions influenced by their desires. Actions in support of the candidate they have chosen as their preferred candidate. People usually insist on their choices in order for their wishes to be fulfilled. This insistence is to the extent that people sometimes, even knowing that their actions are wrong, but in order to find the objectivity of their choice, do wrong things. These actions are definitely possible by changing the system of his preferences. The system that changes will lead the individual to future actions to be influenced by the system of preferences formed in the election.
For example, some people support a person named Mir Hossein Mousavi during the 2009 presidential election in Iran. Although Mousavi suffers a relatively heavy defeat during the election, in order to assert his will, he questions and casts doubt on the institution of elections in Iran, an institution in which he himself has previously been a candidate to win. Participates in elections. As a result, some people, influenced by the statements of their preferred representative and because their system of preferences is on the side of Mir Hossein, consequently question the legitimacy of the elections and resort to violent and irrational behaviors in this regard. In general, the reasons for this can be summarized as follows:
1. Involvement of foreign actors and acting as a confirmation in line with the system of preferences;
2. The desire to win over individuals and to obey the system of their preferences;
3. Fear of failure and constant desire to win the desired person;
4. False statements of the candidates themselves and the formation of perceptions for the audience;
5. Increasing the discourse contradictions between the audience and the selected person or persons and intensifying these contradictions;
Perceptions and their impact on the future
As we mentioned in the previous sections, each person’s action is influenced by his cognition, the cognition that the person gains from his system of preferences, perhaps with a little reflection, can be said to be the motivator of all his future actions. Therefore, elections can play an important role in all future actions of a person, even if it is thought that food choices are not affected by this system of preferences, it is not an accurate word. Because it is not possible to comment on this in detail.
Conclusion
If we review what has been said, we will find that this process is more of an individual process than a social one, and it may not be possible to say that a public mentality is formed, but it should be noted that it is each individual who They form the public mentality, so when a person has a system of preferences formed for him, he is quickly influenced by the echo room and the phenomenon of harmony, and in the form of communities, they form public mentalities. And this is how a narration can be mentioned in this format. He reminded that choice affects both the formation of public mentality and the future actions of individuals.
Reference
- Bani Hashemi, Mir Qasim. (1396). Elections, political stability and national security in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Tehran: Strategic Studies.
- Bourdieu, Pieere (1984), “Distinction: A Social Critique of the judgement of taste“, Routledge.
- An attempt to change the system of public preferences, published on the site: https://Icdt.ir/fa (Published on May 22, 2021).
- Political marketing:principles and applications,Lees_Marshment,Jennifer:2009.
- Why you should quit the news, Mark Manson: https://markmanson.net/ :11 Sep 2009.