Ethnography and Political Opinion: Identity, Alienation and Anti-establishmentarianism in Rural Alberta

Abstract

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.