Memes, scenes and #ELXN2019s: How partisans make memes during elections
Item
Title
Memes, scenes and #ELXN2019s: How partisans make memes during elections
New Media & Society
Creator
Fenwick McKelvey
Scott DeJong
Janna Frenzel
Subject
Canada
Facebook
elections
memes
partisanship
scenes
Abstract
Our article analyses partisan, user-generated Facebook pages and groups to understand the articulation of political identity and party identification. Adapting the concept of scenes usually found in music studies, these Facebook pages and groups act as partisan scenes that maintain identities and sentiments through participatory practices, principally by making and sharing memes. Using a mixed methods approach that combines social media data and interviews during the 2019 Canadian federal election, we find that these partisan scenes are an active part of elections and the overall political information cycle in Canada but endure beyond election cycles. Rather than trying to sway voters of different political affiliation and influence the election outcome, Facebook users employ memes to hang-out and build community, thereby reinforcing partisanship.
pages
14614448211020690
Date
June 17, 2021
short title
New Media & Society
Memes, scenes and #ELXN2019s
Language
en
doi
10.1177/14614448211020690
issn
1461-4448