Multiculturalism in Canada : Symbolic Boundaries and the Institutionalization of Difference

Ashley Fraser

doi:10.32920/ryerson.14649912

Abstract

This paper explores how people are constructed into groups, and how these constructions are reinforced by the ideology of multiculturalism in Canada. I am primarily concerned with the metaphorical use of the border concept in the context of Multicultural Canada, and if and how the current ideology of multiculturalism reifies cultural distinctions and, in complex ways, contributes to divisiveness and disunity within Canada. The goal of Canada's Multicultural policy is integration via acceptance of difference. Yet, the principle or logic underlying the policy rests on the premise that cultural variation is discontinuous. Thus, Canadian multiculturalism's undue emphasis on cultural differences means that such differences, whether superficial or substantive, are abstracted into meaningful difference through the metaphorical extension of border concepts. As such, multiculturalism has left unchanged the structural organization of power in the cultural and political landscape of Canada.

Highlights

Between groups and individuals, there always have been boundaries and differences.one of the most important challenges that we face today is to understand how we create boundaries, and what are the consequences of such actions (Lamont and Fournier 1992:1)
Given the exploratory impulse of my research, my paper is concerned with the metaphorical use of the border concept in the context of Multicultural Canada, and will discuss if and how the current ideology of multiculturalism reifies cultural distinctions and, in complex ways, contributes to divisiveness and disunity within Canada
I explore how people are constructed into groups, and how these constructions are reinforced by the ideology of multiculturalism in Canada

Summary

INTRODUCTION

There always have been boundaries and differences. one of the most important challenges that we face today is to understand how we create boundaries, and what are the consequences of such actions (Lamont and Fournier 1992:1). According to Epstein (1992:233), such boundaries, defining and separating people into groups, communities, and many other classifications, act as constraints to equality In this spirit, and given the exploratory impulse of my research, my paper is concerned with the metaphorical use of the border concept in the context of Multicultural Canada, and will discuss if and how the current ideology of multiculturalism reifies cultural distinctions and, in complex ways, contributes to divisiveness and disunity within Canada. Attention is paid to the social formation and manifestations of borders and identities, as well as the socially constructed and constitutive 'them' or 'others.' Such an approach, when applied to the Canadian context, will shed light on the role of multiculturalism as an ideological state apparatus, while conceptualizing the boundaries that divide individuals, groups, and collectivities as the product of domination and exploitation

LITERATURE REVIEW Socially Constructed Lines of Difference

CONCLUSION