Ethnography and Political Opinion

Identity, Alienation and Anti-establishmentarianism in Rural Alberta

Bibliographic Data

ID6237913
AuthorsClark Banack (0000-0003-1113-9502, University of Alberta, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume54
Issue1
Pages1-22
Publication date2021-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCanadian Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0008-4239 • E-ISSN: 1744-9324
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0008423920000694
OpenAlexW3096778745
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited29

This article documents an ethnographic case study designed to provide deeper insight into the manifestation of political opinion in the rural areas of Alberta, Canada. Employing “a method of listening,” the study demonstrates that rural Albertans, like rural Americans, are feeling politically alienated and angry in ways that go beyond ideological preference, age or income level. In fact, the grievances unveiled in this study are connected directly to key aspects of their social identites: to thier sense of belonging as Albertans, as “ordinary citizens” and as explicitly rural. Importantly, these forms of alienation are often experienced as being layered, frequently melting into each other and strongly informing both these citizens’ strong support for anti-establishment politics and the rather negative fashion in which they interpret the plight of newcomers to Canada and of Indigenous Canadians

Aesthetics · Alienation · Ethnography · Feeling · Identity (music · Ideology · Indigenous · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Anthropology · Canadian Identity and History · Gender Studies · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies

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Open DOIOpen Access