Critical Analysis Of You Can T Buy A Vote

This critical response will be focusing on the article by author Lisa Björkman titled “You can’t buy a vote”. The author in this article analyzes Mumbai’s 2012 electoral process by directing ethnographic attention to Seema, a candidate running for the 2012 election in Mumbai, and her relationships with social workers and local leaders. Björkman’s main focus is on the flow of cash throughout the election campaign. It is believed that the election campaign participants partake in “vote buying”, which is when votes are deemed to be for sale and therefore campaign leaders exchange money to get votes. Björkman’s main argument is that gifts of money are similar to any other forms of gifted goods in creating relations of obligation and loyalty. Additionally, money is given to social workers who assemble residents to …show more content…
These social workers are important as they are responsible for convincing people to participate in these rallies as well as providing advice to people about where they should cast their votes. The theoretical framework of this article is surrounding the existence and use of money in a democratic system, where the 2012 election season in Mumbia is depicted as a marketization of votes and therefore a decline in democratic responsibility. To begin with, from my perspective and understanding of a democratic system, it is a type of government which is for the people and votes are casted by individuals without corruption. On the other hand, in the Mumbai 2012 election the flow of cash was very important as mentioned by Björkman. The politicians are mostly interested in the slums as their votes can easily be moved and manipulated by money. Though votes are not directly bought, the transaction of money from campaign leader to social worker acts