Lights, Camera, Election: The parallels between politics and professional wrestling

by Joshua Jacobs | Oct 22, 2023 | Features

It seems that in recent years, politics has become far more confusing and divisive than ever before in the modern life of Western civilisation. There is an ever-increasing group of impassioned town criers who call themselves politicians but, at the same time, an ever-diminishing sense of trust in politics and democracy as a workable means towards a peaceful and functional society. What has caused this strange shift towards low-trust, selectively lucrative politics – which seems to reward politicians regardless of their effectiveness while ignoring the real struggles of the populace regardless of their urgency?


Cultural critics such as Dr Eric R Weinstein compare modern politics to professional wrestling. Politicians are rewarded for performing a specific predetermined role in and outside of the ring – the place where the present “culture wars” are waged. Thus, it is worth looking into whether there is any validity in this way of thinking about politics.

PDBY asked Dr Mpoifeng Molefinyane, a UP economics lecturer, whether game theory supports such a view of modern politics. (Game theory is a field in which strategic actions are studied.) He stated that the “predictions of game theory are consistent with [a] performative politics [of this kind]”. Importantly, Dr Molefinyane emphasised that “game theory has been extensively applied to politics because of the use of strategic behaviour in politics”, with it also being the case that “in game theory, [game theorists] study how a person’s choice of action impacts others”. “If that person is aware that his or her actions affect others,” he continued, “[this is called] a strategic behaviour, and instead of saying a person is choosing amongst actions, we [can then] say that a person is choosing amongst strategies.” Thus, Dr Molefinyane concluded it is suitable to think of politics in general as a kind of game, since in game theory a game is “any situation where there are strategic interactions”.

Have UP students noticed this kind of performative politics taking place at UP? In a PDBY poll, 94% of respondents stated that they have experienced SRC candidates carrying out a game- like performance of the type described by Dr Molefinyane. Thus, this form of performative politics not only exists at UP but has become noticeable to UP students. One UP student shared that they have noticed SRC members as well as prospective candidates “taking [the] SRC as auditions” by “imitating parliament”. Another UP student compared the recent EFFSC protests following the finalisation of this year’s SRC elections to “parading”. Furthermore, 84% of respondents to the same poll think that this form of performative politics is to the detriment of UP students’ overall well-being. Numerous UP students also described the form of protests routinely carried out close to SRC elections or other events related to hot-button topics as disruptive.

Looking more broadly, this issue is not unique to UP. Much of the same behaviour can be found in South African politics more generally as well as in the political dynamics of countries like the United States or the UK. But is performative politics a strategic approach decided on by individual “players” in the game – the politicians themselves – or is it part of the larger game of politics? While only 34% of UP students who responded to this question said that the existing democratic structures – rather than the politicians themselves – have allowed for this shift, this is no small amount of scepticism. One student elaborated on her view in favour of this standpoint by saying, “It would be ridiculous to acknowledge a recurring pattern and assume that there’s no greater force creating the pattern but rather [that] it [is] being caused by individual actions.”

Dr Molefinyane, agreed with this perspective, as he “believe[s] that any democracy may be subject to performative politics”. For him, the best way forward on the matter of “divisive issues such as race, religion, and clans” will be for “society [to] confront … divisive issues and try to find their solutions [rather than] using people’s frustrations to score points”.

Joshua Jacobs
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