What Do We Know about Social Cohesion: The Research Perspective of the Federal Government's Social Cohesion Research Network

Abstract

Abstract: This paper reports on recent research in the Federal Government on social cohesion. Social cohesion is defined as the willingness of members of a society to cooperate with each other in order to survive and prosper. Willingness to cooperate means they freely choose to form partnerships and have a reasonable chance of realizing goals, because others are willing to cooperate and share the fruits of their endeavours equitably. Social cohesion contributes to a wide variety of social outcomes such as health and economic prosperity. Part I of the paper relates how Federal Government researchers came to be interested in social cohesion. Part II discusses the concept of social cohesion. Part III presents a model of society to demonstrate how social cohesion works. Part IV concludes by discussing the policy significance of the model. Resume: Cette communication rende compte de la recherche recente du gouvernement federal au sujet de la cohesion sociale. Par la cohesion sociale, on comprend la volonte des membres de la societe a cooperer 1'un avec l'autre dans le but de survivre et prosperer. La volonte de cooperer veut dire qu'ils choissisent librement de s,associer et qu'ils ont une bonne chance de realiser leurs objectifs, puisque les autres sont egalement bien disposes a cooperer et a partager equitablement les resultats de leurs efforts. La cohesion sociale contribue a divers resultats sociaux, telles que la sante et la prosperite economique. La premiere partie de la communication raconte comment le gouvernement federal s'est interesse a la cohesion sociale. La deuxieme partie explore le concept de la cohesion sociale. Partie trois presente un modele de la societie qui demontre comment fonctionne Ia cohesion sociale. Comme conclusion, partie quatre parle des implications du modele pour la politique. Introduction This paper reports on recent research in the Federal Government on the subject of social cohesion. Part I relates how the research community in the Federal Government came to be interested in social cohesion. Part II discusses what is meant by the concept social cohesion. Part III describes what the research community has learned about social cohesion and how it has used that knowledge to elaborate a model of how social cohesion works. Part IV concludes by discussing the policy significance of the model and how further research within and outside government can contribute. Although there has, since the events of September 11, 2001, been an upsurge in policy interest in social cohesion in the Federal Government, this article will not discuss those policy considerations. The considerations are still in their very preliminary stages. It is premature to try to form a scholarly perspective on any policies which may arise from them, and it is in any case beyond the competence of the author to discuss policy issues. The article will therefore confine itself to the research activities of the Federal Government's Social Cohesion Research Network. Part I: How the Federal Government Research Community Became Interested in Social Cohesion Social Cohesion first became a subject of interest to the Federal Government in 1996, after the then Clerk of the Privy Council, Jocelyne Bourgon, realized that the capacity of the government to do policy research had seriously eroded, and was, in some areas, practically non-existent (PCO, 1995). In order to begin to rebuild research capacity, the Clerk asked government departments to identify critical policy issues which would arise over the next decade, and to begin to explore them. She specified that the issues identified should not be constrained by traditional departmental mandates. Research was to lead policy development and not merely follow and rationalize it, and research was to reach beyond traditional departmental boundaries and concerns so as to be able to study issues integrally and challenge existing departmental policy perspectives. …