Us, Them, and Others: Pluralism and National Identity in Diverse Societies

304 Pages·2011·2.473 MB·English

by  Elke Winter

US, THEM, AND OTHERS
Pluralism and National Identity in Diverse Societies
How do countries come to view themselves as being ‘multicultural’?
Us, Them, and Others presents a dynamic new model for understanding
pluralism based on the triangular relationship between three groups –
the national majority, historically recognized minorities, and diverse
immigrant bodies. Elke Winter’s research illustrates how compromise
between unequal groups takes on meaning through confrontation with
real or imagined outsiders.
Us, Them, and Others sheds new light on the resilience of Canadian
multiculturalism in the late 1990s, when multicultural policies in
other countries had already come under heavy a(cid:308) ack. Winter draws
on analyses of English-language newspaper discourses and a socio-
logical framework to connect discourses of pan-Canadian multicul-
tural identity to representations of Québécois nationalism, immigrant
groups, First Nations, and the United States. Taking inspiration from
the Canadian experience, Us, Them, and Others is a timely examination
of national identity and pluralist group formation in diverse societies.
elke winter is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology
and Anthropology at the University of O(cid:308) awa.
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ELKE WINTER
Us, Them, and Others
Pluralism and National Identity
in Diverse Societies

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buff alo London
© University of Toronto Press Incorporated 2011
 Toronto Buff alo London
 www.utppublishing.com
 Printed in Canada
 ISBN 978-0-8020-9692-0 (cloth)
 ISBN 978-0-8020-9639-5 (paper)
Printed on acid-free, 100% post-consumer recycled paper with
vegetable-based inks.
________________________________________________________________
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Winter, Elke, 1971–
Us, them, and others : pluralism and national identities in diverse societies /
Elke Winter.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8020-9692-0 (bound). ISBN 978-0-8020-9639-5 (pbk.)
1. Multiculturalism – Canada. 2. Cultural pluralism – Canada. 3. Québec
(Province) – History – Autonomy and independence movements. I. Title.
FC105.M8W55 2011  305.800971  C2011-903042-X
________________________________________________________________
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian
Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Aid to
Scholarly Publications Program, using funds provided by the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the fi nancial assistance to its
publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario
Arts Council.

University of Toronto Press acknowledges the fi nancial support of the
Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for its publishing
activities.
To my parents
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
PART I Introduction
1 How Do ‘We’ Become Pluralist? 3
2 A Canadian Paradox 12
PART II Theoretical Considerations
3 Theoretical Puzzles 31
4 Social Relations and Processes of Ethnicization 54
5 Nationalist Exclusion and Its Remedies 69
PART III Empirical Analysis
6 How Do ‘We’ Become Multicultural? 91
7 Neither ‘America’ nor ‘Quebec’ 113
8 To Be or Not to Be Like Quebec 139
9 Who Constitutes Multiculturalism? Divergent Perspectives 163

PART IV Conclusions
10 The Social Constitution of a Pluralist ‘We’ 195
11 Comparative Perspectives 217
viii Contents
Notes 229
Bibliography 251
Index 285
Acknowledgments
The arguments in this book have been developed over several years.
During this time, my project benefi ted from the intellectual and practi-
cal support of many friends and colleagues. I am particularly indebted
to Veit Bader, Klaus Eder, Ratiba Hadj-Moussa, Will Kymlicka, Alan
Simmons, and Brian Singer, whose generous comments and sugges-
tions have helped to improve the manuscript substantially. Special
thanks also to Engin Isin, Marcel Martel, David Miller, Rinus Penninx,
Melisa Salazar, and Daiva Stasiulis for many questions, ideas, and
critical observations. Eamonn Callan, Marguerite Cognet, Thomas
Faist, Blanca Garces-Mascareñas, Tariq Modood, Oliver Schmidtke,
and Hans-Olaf Schultze have commented extensively on earlier ver-
sions of individual chapters. I am grateful for thoughtful comments by
members of the SIAS Summer Institutes on Migration and Citizenship
2007–2008 (Wissenscha(cid:286) skolleg zu Berlin & Stanford University). In
addition, UTP’s anonymous reviewers, who engaged closely with my
work, provided valuable suggestions. I thank all these colleagues for
their criticism and encouragement. Both helped me to frame my argu-
ments be(cid:308) er. The usual disclaimer applies: I remain solely responsible
for all errors of fact or interpretation.
Over the past years, the manuscript travelled with me to many
places including Montreal, Toronto, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Palo Alto,
California. Being able to present and discuss my work in various re-
search and teaching se(cid:308) ings has been an extremely valuable experience!
Institutional support was provided by the Canadian Metropolis Project
(IM Montréal and CERIS Toronto), the Institute for Migration and
Ethnic Studies (IMES) at the University of Amsterdam, the Institute for
Social Sciences at the Humboldt University in Berlin, the MCRI Ethnic