Publications

Multiculturalism and Social Cohesion: Potentials and Challenges of Diversity
(by Jeffrey G. Reitz, Raymond Breton, Karen K. Dion, and Kenneth L. Dion, Springer, 2009)

Does multiculturalism ‘work’? Does multiculturalism policy create social cohesion, or undermine it? Multiculturalism was introduced in Canada in the 1970s and widely adopted internationally, but more recently has been hotly debated, amid new concerns about social, cultural, and political impacts of immigration. Advocates praise multiculturalism for its emphasis on special recognition for cultural minorities as facilitating their social integration, while opponents charge that multiculturalism threatens social cohesion by encouraging social isolation. Multiculturalism is thus rooted in a theory of human behaviour, and this book examines the empirical validity of some of its basic propositions, focusing on Canada as the country for which the most enthusiastic claims for multiculturalism have been made. The analysis draws on the massive national Ethnic Diversity Survey of over 41,000 Canadians in 2002, the most extensive survey yet conducted on this question. The analysis provides a new and more nuanced understanding of the complex relation between multiculturalism and social cohesion, challenging uncritically optimistic or pessimistic views. Ethnic community ties facilitate some aspects of social integration, while discouraging others. For racial minorities, relations within and outside minority communities are greatly complicated by more frequent experiences of discrimination and inequality, slowing processes of social integration. Implications for multicultural policies emphasize that race relations present important challenges across Quebec and the rest of Canada, including for the new religious minorities, and that ethnic community development requires more explicit support for social integration. Click here for Springer's website.

Ethnic Relations in Canada: Institutional Dynamics (Raymond Breton, edited and with an introduction by Jeffrey G. Reitz, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2005)
This collection of Raymond Breton's essential writings highlights his work on French-English relations in Canada, examining the social origins of Quebec's Quiet Revolution, the different forms of English-Canadian and Quebec nationalism, the relationship between linguistic and regional divisions, and the dynamics of recurring constitutional crisis. Breton's writings on ethnic relations related to immigration consider the dynamics, political nature, and impact of immigrant ethnic communities and the origins of multiculturalism. He also explores the integration of immigrant ethnic communities across linguistic boundaries and the status of Aboriginal Canadians. The introduction by Jeffrey Reitz focuses on the evolution of Breton's distinctive institutional framework, which both extends and in some ways alters John Porter's classic analysis in The Vertical Mosaic. Reitz shows how Breton's original concept of "institutional completeness" has been extended to provide a comprehensive framework for the institutional analysis of inter-ethnic relations, creating a unified theoretical structure that has shaped the study of inter-ethnic relations in Canada and points toward a future research agenda. Publication was sponsored by the Harney Program and the Sociology Department, University of Toronto. Click here to go to the McGill-Queen's web site.