Electoral sociability [ Politics & Society ]
… of sociability interacted and sometimes collided. Elections channelled accepted forms of sociability into political expression at the polls but also invented new modes of communication and created an instrumentalised sociability for … puritanically-minded also saw such entertainments as debauched bouts of drunkenness. In 1696 a disgusted John Evelyn expressed dismay at the ‘confus’d, debauch’d and riotous manner of electing members’ in which men were forced ‘to bribe the … vehemence of its critiques of the gentry candidates. Indeed, in 1768 a Somerset song disdained the ‘rich bullies’ who oppressively expected voters to set aside their right to choose whichever candidate they wanted. 9 7 . Thomas Lashley, …
Corruption | Elections | Impoliteness | Politeness | Politics | Print culture | Violence
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