With election signs and posters plastering communities across Canada, a University of Calgary PhD student is conducting research in Cochrane and across Alberta to figure out how Albertans make sense of political imagery promoting voting.
“I try to understand how Albertan political culture influences or interacts with the way people make opinions of political symbolism – what makes Albertans react differently than other people around the world to political messages,” explained Ofer Berenstein, the doctoral student behind the study.
So far, Berenstein has interviewed around 30 people from different communities, including in Cochrane, since June of this year.
With the election called earlier than expected this year, “it’s actually helped a lot,” said Berenstein. “It’s got people who aren’t necessarily into politics thinking about it.
“Even people who say, ‘I don’t care about politics, I hate politics.’ That’s an opinion about politics. They can bring their life experiences into how they make meaning of the imagery.”
Berenstein has subjects look at 16 ‘go vote’ posters produced by a wide variety of governmental and non-governmental organizations, such as Elections Canada and Apathy is Boring, then asks them a number of questions about what they interpret in the imagery.
One example is the recurring symbol of an ‘X’, that marks off ballots.
“You get reactions where people tell me, ‘I don’t put an X on my ballot; I put a check mark,” which he said implies negativity associated with receiving bad marks in school.
He also examined how rhetoric – words and messages on the signage – influences the subjects. Berenstein said he aims to probe the reasons behind opinions formed around declarations such as ‘your vote counts’ or ‘your vote is your say.’
He said it’s too preliminary in the research to make concrete conclusions, but gleaned that Albertans “have a definitive, unique, brand of what we call in academia selective apathy.”
“They sort of choose not to get involved. They know what’s going on and they have may have different reasons, but they choose not to get involved. They say, ‘I know what you’re trying to tell me, but I’d rather do something else instead.’
“Albertans are highly politically active but not through voting,” he said, adding that Alberta is the second lowest voting province in the country.
What generation the subject is from also has an impact. Older generations, such as the Baby Boomers, have a stronger tendency to see voting as a civil duty. However, he found that those born before 1950 don’t necessarily view voting as such.
He surmised that most Albertans consider voting to be a right, but often equate the right to vote with the right not to.
With that in mind, Berenstein said, organizations and agencies promoting voting ‘can’t play the guilt-trip card.’
“You can’t guilt trip people into voting because they don’t feel guilt,” since they feel it’s within their democratic right, he said.
Those 18 years and older who are interested in participating in the study can contact Berenstein at [email protected].
