Nationalism, National Unity, and the Economic Theory of Information

Abstract

Nationalism, National Unity, and the Economic Theory of Information. The study attempts to explain the under-representation of French C'anadians at the higher administrative and technical levels within Canadian firms by applying the theory of information to the Canadian labour market. Companies need information conceming the market for prospective employees, just as individuals need information on salaries and working conditions. There are important economies of scale in the acquisition of infolmation, economies which encourage the establishment of institutionalized of information. The role of these is, particularly important in the selection of candidates for the higher ranges of the organizational structure where tlhe need for information is most pressing. As the process of industrialization has come in large measure from outside through the importation of capital, technology, and knowhow, the information have been established outside the French Canadian community. As a result, the Canadian and the Quebec labour markets are split into two sub-groups, French and English-speaking, distinct in the degree of information they possess on prospective employers, and in the amount of information these employers possess about members of each group. From this analysis can be drawn three corollaries which are empirically verifiable: first, the supply and demand of the disadvantaged factor will be reduced; second, there will be a greater uncertainty and dispersion in the qualifications offered by French Canadians and required by hiring firms; and finally, the salaries offered to French Canadians, and expected by them, will be more widely distributed. On a broader plane, the approach permits one to interpret the two ideological options traditionally adhered to by French Canadians: a panCanadianism which calls for as great an integration as possible of French Canadians into the <'information networks of the 'other society; and on the other hand, a nationalism which calls for the establishment of distinct French Canadian enterprises and institutions totally integrated into the French Canadian milieu.