The Force of the Somatic Norm

Abstract

Abstract Formal sites of politics assume the presence of particular types of bodies. Even though they may be legally open to all, there is a somatic norm. Namely particular dispositions, racialized and gendered configurations, have come to stand in as the normative figures of parliaments. Positions of political leadership are, historically and conceptually, reserved for some bodies over and above others. This chapter offers a tool of analysis for making sense of the tenuous location of “space invaders,” those who are not deemed to be normative figures, within institutional domains. The specific empirical focus of this chapter is upon the parliamentary representative institution Westminster. The framework points to how change and sedimentation occur together in line with the pervading centrifugal force of the somatic norm, a public figure that is historically and conceptually produced. Thinking globally, the white masculine figure of legislative political leadership is clearly not the norm in large parts of the world. Nonetheless he is a norm that has a bearing upon global political leadership, including in places where women have a strong numerical presence in parliament, such as Nordic countries and some countries in Africa and Latin American.