Last updated on December 16th, 2020 at 02:18 pm
New social harmony index finds nearly 75% of Canadians seek common ground
-Study highlights national core values relate to social focus over individual focus-
Contrary to the perception of growing national polarization, and just in time for the season of peace and goodwill—the first annual Canadian Social Harmony Index™ has benchmarked Canadians’ willingness to accommodate different points of view and find common ground. Across regions, the findings were surprisingly consistent:
Older respondents and those who held both liberal andconservative views were significantly more likely to want to find common ground. Younger respondents, and those whose views were either strongly progressive or strongly conservative were more likely to want to fight for their beliefs. In all cases, the majority of all subgroups, even the polarized wings, favoured common ground.
Inspired by the work of More in Common, the survey was self-funded and conducted by RA2 in partnership with Cause & Effect Marketing, agencies that use technology, behavioural science, and positive psychology to support government, business, and social sector clients.
“As we say goodbye to 2020, these results suggest a healthy level of goodwill that can be built on to promote social cooperation, social harmony, and social good. The key to maintaining that goodwill in the year ahead is to communicate with one another as friends rather than enemies,” says Joni Avram, President of Cause & Effect Marketing.
The survey also measured the core values that influence how Canadians think, feel, and act. The results revealed that Canadians have a greater social focus than personal focus. These results were also consistent across regions:
The study also showed that messages that align with these core values dramatically increased positive engagement and willingness to share messages with friends and family.
“When messaging to a broad range of people, continually repeating a single perspective doesn’t work well. Instead, multiple messages that align with different core values can make respondents engage more positively with information and make them more willing to share it,” says Cameron Raynor, Principal of RA2.
The online study, conducted in mid-November across four regions (Atlantic, Ontario, Prairies, BC), surveyed 1575 Canadians representative of the general public based on age, gender, region, and education. A summary of findings is available here. Professional development training on how to apply these results to specific organizational and sector messages will be offered December 16, 2020.
