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CANADA’S Ethnic Patterns

CANADA’S Ethnic Patterns. IDENTITY AND SELF DETERMINATIOn. Canadian Cultural mosaic. The idea of a cultural mosaic is intended to champion an ideal of multiculturalism , differently from other systems-

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CANADA’S Ethnic Patterns

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  1. CANADA’S Ethnic Patterns IDENTITY AND SELF DETERMINATIOn

  2. Canadian Cultural mosaic • The idea of a cultural mosaic is intended to champion an ideal of multiculturalism, differently from other systems- • i.e. the melting pot, which is often used to describe the neighboring United States' ideal of assimilation

  3. MulticulturalismIdeal Culture vs Real Culture • Ideal culture –Marxist =ideology • Tolerance • Cooperation and Understanding • Fairness • Freedom `within limits’ • Open acceptance of others as unique and similar.

  4. Real Culture • See Henry and TatorDemocratic Racism in Canadian Society (1994) • Competition • Stratification • Power difference • Different opportunities • Polite racism..

  5. Assimilation and Acculturation • The two ends of the continuum of what happens to ethnic groups are:   • 1. Assimilation • 2. Acculturation • 3 ... Maintenance of group identity and cohesion within the larger society. (ethnic ghetto)

  6. Vertical Mosaic • John Porter (1965) • A controversial thesis-Canada’s emphasis on cultural pluralism hinders minority groups • Creates `ethnic ghetto cultures’ restricting mobility… • A functionalist thesis…

  7. Revisionists • Include Peter S. Li • Gordon Darroch • Ethnic communities carve out their own occupational avenues for success. • Canada is primarily a class society-Marxist thesis.

  8. Canada • Multidimensional in terms of ethnic patterns: • Uni-cultural-British, Anglo Saxon Dominance 1763 • Bicultural-French and English Charter groups 1963-1968 • Multicultural-since 1972 Official..

  9. Charter Groups:BR and Fr. Origins • Of this population of about 22.4 million, nearly one-half (46%). • About 10.3 million, reported only British Isles, French and/or Canadian ethnic cultural origins.

  10. British ancestry. • The largest proportion - 21% of the total population aged 15 years and older - was comprised of those of only British ancestry.

  11. French & Mixed origins • An additional 10% of the total population reported only French origins, including French Canadian; • 8% reported Canadian origins; • 7% had a mix of British, French and/or Canadian origins.

  12. Other Europeans. • The next largest proportion of Canada's population was comprised of the descendants of other Europeans. • About 4.3 million people, or about one-fifth (19%) of those aged 15 and over, had only European ancestry (other than British and French origins).

  13. Non-European descent • People of non-European descent accounted for 13% of the population aged 15 and over, or 2.9 million. • The most frequent origins were Chinese and East Indian. (Non-Europeans have origins in places such as Asia, Africa, Central and South America, the Caribbean, Australia and Oceania.)

  14. Mixed ethnic heritages • In addition, 22% of the population aged 15 and over, or 4.9 million, reported other mixed ethnic heritages, or did not know their ethnic ancestry.

  15. Canada’s Ethnic History In Brief

  16. History Canada in 5 Stages • Multiculturalism is new. (40+ yrs. old) • Trudeau was not the initiator of this Canadian policy. • See Paul Yuzyk, a Progressive Conservative Senator of Ukrainian descent, referred to Canada as "a multicultural nation" in his influential maiden speech in 1964.

  17. History • The Historical Stages of Canadian Ethnic History indicate that through the mid-20th century, an overarching sense of Anglo Dominance prevailed.

  18. Stages in Can. Ethnic History • Contact • Pre Confederation/Western Settlement • Post WW2 • 1960s- • Refocusing

  19. Contact • 1608-1763 • Fur Trade=mobile groups, little settlement. • 350,000 Natives vs. 5000 Europeans • Some trade…more claiming • Voyageurs move inland • S. de Champlain, E. Brule.

  20. Pre-ConfederationTwo Solitudes • Plains of Abraham 1759; Treaty of Paris 1763. • British Conquest-Wolf defeats Montcalm • Fr. aristocracy abandons Fr. peasantry • Ideology=La Survivance-Survival • Upper Canada 55% English 35% French. • Lower Canada 80% Fr. 20% Eng

  21. Post-Confederation/Western Settlement • CPR Workers needed… • Influx of Russian, Ukrainian, Chinese Italian (builders of CPR) • Chinese, Jewish in urban centers • Prejudice and Discrimination • Anglo-centric -Orange Order predominant.

  22. Post World War Two • Negative treatment of ethnic minorities erodes • More insight into ethnic hatred • Italian, Jewish, Greek, Northern Europeans accepted first. • Italians 731,000, Germans 1.3 million, 385,000 Scand. • Nevertheless, Canadian society remains Anglo-Centric until 1960s.

  23. R.C.B.B. 1963-1969 • The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism revealed the growth of a new current in Canada by the `other Canadians'. •  Multicultural Act-an afterthought?

  24. 1960’sCanadian Flag 1965 • Introduction of the Points System (1967) • Immigration less Anglo-centric • Points for education, work experience, hosts. • Bi & Bi Commission (RCBB) 1963-1968 • RCBB ends with a push towards OfficialMulticulturalism 1972

  25. Trudeau claimed in 1971 • "There cannot be one policy for Canadians of British origin or French origins, another for originals and yet a third for all others. For although there are two official languages, there is no official culture." • Since 1971, 200 million dollars has been spent promoting multicultural ideals, social integration and racial harmony

  26. Re-focusing the Cultural Mosaic • Three levels of immigration 1.-points, 2. family reunification 3. refugee status • Increasing numbers of visible minorities South Asia, Caribbean and Asia • 250,000 immigrants per year • Mosaic, Salad Bowl-a new development

  27. Pop admited to Canada 2012

  28. Key Question •  What is the significance of ethnicity in Canadian society? • Ethnicity becomes increasingly significant over time as Canada moves away from its colonial status. • De-colonialization, multiculturalism are new realities of Canada in a global framework.

  29. Evelyn Kallen (1974) • KALLEN, Evelyn and KELNER, Merrijoy. 1983. Ethnicity, Opportunity ..... “Toronto: Polite Racismand Marshmallow Politics,” Currents: Readings in Race ...

  30. Subtle discrimination • Examples of this subtle discrimination included being passed over for promotion, assigned unpleasant tasks, being stereotyped, and being excluded from the "inner circle" of the workplace

  31. Racism Covert • Racism is more covert today- US and Canada. • Focus group participants said that “racism is a ‘hidden thing’ in the workplace, and many were convinced that they had been victims of subtle forms of racism.

  32. Visible minoritiesSubtle discrimination • Examples of this subtle discrimination included: • being passed over for promotion, • assigned unpleasant tasks, • being stereotyped, • excluded from the "inner circle" of the workplace

  33. Polite racists. • They maintain a number of fixed ideas about people, usually based on some insufficient or erroneous information such as Asians are passive, Chinese are bad drivers, Jews are Greedy, Native people are lazy. • Distance breeds prejudice…

  34. Polite racists. (Kallen, 1974) • A study conducted in 1978 showed that young people under 16 are somewhat racist and 33 percent of adults somewhat racist. • 51 percent of management in 199 large companies (N=50) held negative views of people of colour. (Henry and Ginsberg, 1978)

  35. Weber Religion and Meaning • Religion helps to generate meaning, reinforcement and justification for group interest. Religion helps to generate • World view of the life process expressed in action. •  Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Confucian • Weber would contend that religious values orientations are a the core of ethnic group identity.

  36. Marx: Materialism and Stratification • Dialectical materialism-see Hegel • Marx was a revolutionary, concerned with social change, society is ordered according to economic conditions. • Modes of Production-tribal, ancient communal, capitalistic, socialistic.

  37. Materialism :Marx on Capitalism • a.     Industrialization enhanced by steam power gave rise to more and more urbanization • b.     Capitalism washed away earlier forms of association making man prisoner of material interest

  38. Consiousness of proletariat • c.      Factories were enslaving individuals, globbing up labour skills • d.    The only important “consciousness of kind” was consiousness of proletariat as workers against bourgeois owners….(Stalin for example, purged individuals as enemies of the people, people of the Soviet Union, could be from any ethnic or racial grouping)

  39. Marx’s take on ethnicity • a.      Industrialization undermines community and social relations • b.     Ethnicity is an important way of fighting alienation, it enhances group life a precondition for a revolutionary proletariat.

  40. Pure class consciousness • .      Ethnicity provides a sense of belonging, people who care, it promotes meaningful communities • d.     However, ethnic identification should not stand in the way of pure class consciousness; pure class consciousness is only made possible in capitalist society.

  41. Ethnicity • Ethnicity is one means of producing a revolutionary proletariat capable of overthrowing the bourgeoisie. • Marx believes that the ruling class uses nationalism and ethnicity as a means to prevent workers from different nations from uniting and recognizing their common exploitation.

  42. Durkheim: Cohesion   • Durkheim concern with industrialization was with its impact on social cohesion or integration and with the changing forms of the sacred. • Durkheim, the most conservative thinker of the three, believed that the crisis of the new modern age was the disintegration of stability and authority

  43. Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft • Durkheim borrows from the work of Tonnies Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft and develops the concepts mechanical and organic solidarity.  • Traditional or folk societiesare characterized by mechanical solidarity, members of these societies do not think about their social structures, they follow rules mechanically through traditions and customs.

  44. Modern societies • Modern societies are more loosely bound-norms and values are more rationally adhered to through free association. This is Organic Solidarity • Durkheim saw ethnic identity as important in that in combines gemeinschaft and gessellschaft, mechanical and organic solidarity- Durkheim believes that older forms of association “protect the individual from the acids of modernity”.

  45. Durkheims take on Ethnicity • a.      Attachment to meaningful groups is crucial to an integrated society • b.    Like family and religion and socialization (integrating forms of solidarity) ethnicity can act as an intermediate association, a buffer between traditional folk norms and values and rational bureaucratic institutions

  46. Anomie and egoism • c.      ethnicity serves to guard against anomie and egoism. • Anomie and egoism lead to suicide and other deviant forms of behaviour

  47. Summary • Each of the classical theorists derives their discussions of ethnicity from their general perspectives on society • Durkheim-ethnicity and solidarity against suicide • Marx-ethnicity is a primitive form-not needed when class consciousness emerges

  48. Summary cont.. • Weber-ethnicity derives from biology and geography • For Weber Ethnicity=consciousness of the kind • Consciousness is linked to symbols and interaction within and between groups.

  49. Summary complete • For Marx, ethnic identification much like religion is an opiate. • Ethnicity stands in the way of proletarian class consciousness. • For Durkheim, ethnicity helps individuals guard themselves against the corrosive forces of assimilation.

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