Drawing from linguistic and ethnographic data collected from Women for Obama, South Hills (WFOSH) volunteers and Obama for America (OFA) campaign operatives in western Pennsylvania during the 2012 general election cycle, this study examines metacommentary about the ideal form and function of citizen-to-citizen political interaction in the United States, focusing on the persuasive impact of language objects, mediation, and the construction of relatability in voter outreach, as well as subsequent assessments of outreach effectiveness. Voter outreach, considered as direct communication between local campaign volunteers and voters, was strategically advanced by both OFA and WFOSH for meeting campaign goals. However, clashes between volunteers and operatives reveal competing understandings of effective political participation within outreach interactions. This analysis suggests that operatives within contemporary data-driven American political campaigns more and less overtly socialize citizens’ understandings of democracy in ways that can exacerbate polarization and devalue citizens’ knowledge and agency in political practice. [democracy, discursive political participation, political agency, language materiality and mediation, political campaigns, United States]

中文翻译：

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政治运动、选民外展和美国民主：美国有效参与和公民代理的社会化

本研究利用 2012 年大选期间宾夕法尼亚州西部的奥巴马妇女、南山 (WFOSH) 志愿者和奥巴马美国 (OFA) 竞选人员收集的语言和人种学数据，检验了关于公民的理想形式和功能的元评论——在美国与公民的政治互动，侧重于语言对象的说服力影响、调解和选民外展相关性的构建，以及随后对外展效果的评估。选民外展被视为当地竞选志愿者和选民之间的直接沟通，OFA 和 WFOSH 都在战略上推进了实现竞选目标。然而，志愿者和工作人员之间的冲突揭示了在外联互动中对有效政治参与的不同理解。这一分析表明，当代数据驱动的美国政治运动中的操作人员越来越少公开地将公民对民主的理解社会化，这些方式可能会加剧两极分化并贬低公民在政治实践中的知识和能动性。[民主、话语政治参与、政治代理、语言重要性和调解、政治运动、美国]