Social Change in Contemporary Quebec

Abstract

The last 30 years have brought massive social change to Quebec, both structural (already well underway since the last quarter of the nineteenth century) and cultural change that swept through Quebec like floodwaters released from a burst dam ... just as George Grant prophesied it would happen in 1964. Quebec society has become modern in terms of all the conventional sociological indices: a very low infant mortality rate, low fertility, long life expectancy, liberalized divorce and high suicide rates. The pertinent question now is not whether Quebec has become modern, but rather what has been the cost in terms of the long - term survival of Quebec society. This question matters, of course, only if one believes Quebec society represents something worth saving; as indeed did Grant, like Lord Dorchester before him.For those who either question this premise (neo - liberals like David Bercuson and Barry Cooper come to mind) or, as was the case of Lord Durham, do not dispute Quebec's merit as a society but are convinced that its demise is inevitable given the forces of history and progress, the timelessness of Quebec is somewhat academic. Whether this question is academic and heuristic or normative and political, however, we set Quebec's survival as the standard against which to qualify the nature of the social change presently taking place there. Put concisely, is the pace of social change in Quebec such as to lead to the liquidation of its underpinnings, be they demographic, economic or cultural? Let us consider the change in progress in the light of what four books published over the last few years have to tell us about it.In Recent Social Trends in Quebec 1960 - 1990 one finds a comprehensive compendium of data time - series of a vast array of social phenomena. Seventy - five social and three more contextual trends (the economy, technology and demography) were chosen in function of an international comparative effort initiated in France by the sociologist Henri Merdras and his circle of collaborators (the Louis Dirn group). The choice of trends, grouped in 17 sectors, grew out of an initial macro - societal analysis of French society, subsequently adapted by the five original research teams initially involved in the comparative exercise (France, Quebec, the United States, Spain and West Germany). The grid of trends and societal profiles were justified as a means to subsequent comparative analysis.What we have before us in Recent Social Trends in Quebec 1960 - 1990 is the Quebec societal profile published in English, but not the comparative analysis. All five societal profiles of the Comparative Charting of Social Change (CCSC) project have been published in English and in the languages of the original research; as well, one volume of comparative essays is available and a second forthcoming.(f.1) Since its inception, three new teams - Greek, Italian and Russian - have joined the enterprise.Here we enter not into the merits or demerits of the Quebec profile, as the present commentator was one of the six members of the Quebec team that put it together. Suffice it to say, for present purposes, that we have here the empirical data and the sociological materials for a consideration of the nature and direction of social change in Quebec. I say sociological materials as each trend is accompanied by a short analysis of the significance of the trend as revealed by the one or several time - series presented, interpretations inspired by the existing sociological literature. What follows here is a comment on the portrait of contemporary Quebec society as found in Recent Social Trends in Quebec 1960 - 1990, together with a reading of L'immigration pour quoi faire, Trudeau et la fin d'un re@ve canadien and Quebec and the American Dream.My reading of the major social trends at work in contemporary Quebec society, and their causes and consequences as documented in Recent Social Trends is, of course, just that, a reading, for which the editor, Simon Langlois and the four other authors, J. …