Raymond Breton – författare

Globalization has been defined as a process in which the population of the world is increasingly bonded into a single society. Although none of the contributors to this collection denies the thrust toward convergence that is implicit in globalizing processes, each contributor also concludes that globalization encourages differentiation. Integration in the global system is not a passive process. In different nations, people analyze and interpret what is happening and respond by developing policies, forming new institutions and changing existing ones. They adopt broad cultural models in order to function effectively in the larger system and they also draw upon their particular traditions, values, institutions and resources to define a place that will be to their advantage economically, politically and socio-culturally. As the studies presented in this book show, integration in the world system may benefit a given society or may harm it; it may entail changes to a society's culture, but does not obliterate a society's distinctive characteristics.

Greenwood Press's Contributions in Ethnic Studies series focuses on the interactions and outcomes, both positive and negative, of people from different cultures and their often dissimilar expectations and goals. In The Governance of Ethnic Communities, Raymond Breton examines Chinese, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Ukrainian, and West Indian communities in Canada, with occasional references to the native peoples and other ethnic communities in that country and in the United States. These groups' respectively unique cultural and historical matrices, coupled with their status in the dominant social structure, furnish provocative and diverse data and serve as the bases for scholarly generalizations. From a previously rather underdeveloped perspective, Breton looks at the ethnic community as a stateless political entity with political structures and political processes for self-governance, arguing that although these groups have no state institutions, they do have public ones. He also highlights the processes of collective decision-making, how participation and resources are mobilized for collective projects, the relationship between elites and members, conflict management, and the exercise of power in managing community affairs. The relevant community affairs are both internal matters, such as cultural events, educational and religious activities, or aid to new immigrants, and external affairs, such as immigration legislation and its implementation, civil rights, and relations with the country of origin.The volume's eight chapters explore the origin and structures of governance; examine some of the processes of governance, including community leadership and the formulation of collective goals; and inquire into the construction and maintenance of the sociopolitical community through an investigation of individual participation in community affairs and of the group's collective identity. Throughout this analysis, Breton considers the impact of environmental forces and of internal political competition. With its orientation toward significant variables and principles, this important study represents an excellent summary of current research on ethnic communities in North America and will contribute greatly to the present understanding as well as future investigations of such groups. It will be of compelling interest to historians, sociologists, political scientists, psychologists, and psychiatrists, among others.

The collected writings of a leading authority on Canada's ethnic and linguistic diversity.

The authors examine two sides of the social covenant: what Canadians expect from their society - fairness, recognition for their contribution to society, trust that others will not take advantage of them, and a sense of belonging - and what is expected from them - a sense of indebtedness to society that reflects an appreciation of how they have benefited as members of their society, a sense of obligation to help others, and a willingness to contribute to the functioning of the community and society. Based on this analysis, the authors identify a number of steps that can be taken to strengthen the Canadian social fabric.This study is especially pertinent today given the pervasive market culture that is eroding the civic culture underlying the social covenants in contemporary Western societies. It goes beyond conventional assessments that focus on economic and material dimensions of our society.

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 reshaped the study of inter-ethnic relations in Canada and points toward a future research agenda.

In recent decades the ebb and flow of immigration to Canada has changed significantly, with the majority of immigrants coming from non-European countries. A striking feature of this shift is that a significant proportion of immigrants are non-Christians newly immersed in a society entrenched in Christian ideals. In Different Gods, Raymond Breton looks at the significance of religious differences and what they mean for immigrants, non-immigrants, and Canada''s future. Breton examines the evolution over time of the religious attitudes and behaviour of the new minorities and the challenges that their presence poses to the receiving society. The analysis consists of a review of recent research and formulates possible conclusions about the transformations that integration may bring about for both the minorities and the receiving society. An important analysis of immigration in an era of rapidly changing social values, Different Gods looks boldly into issues of collective identity and cultural accommodation.

In recent decades the ebb and flow of immigration to Canada has changed significantly, with the majority of immigrants coming from non-European countries. A striking feature of this shift is that a significant proportion of immigrants are non-Christians newly immersed in a society entrenched in Christian ideals. In Different Gods, Raymond Breton looks at the significance of religious differences and what they mean for immigrants, non-immigrants, and Canada''s future. Breton examines the evolution over time of the religious attitudes and behaviour of the new minorities and the challenges that their presence poses to the receiving society. The analysis consists of a review of recent research and formulates possible conclusions about the transformations that integration may bring about for both the minorities and the receiving society. An important analysis of immigration in an era of rapidly changing social values, Different Gods looks boldly into issues of collective identity and cultural accommodation.

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.