Overview

Abstract (English)

The thesis explores the nature of social cohesion in Canadian society, by determining if members of some ethno-racial communities are more or less likely than others to have high levels of trust, both in their fellow Canadians and in their society’s central public or political institutions. Social cohesion refers to the willingness of members of a society to cooperate with each other, in order to ensure the welfare of all its members. The research contributes to our understanding of the extent to which the changing composition of Canada’s population is a cohesive or divisive force for trust. The thesis makes a clear and original contribution to knowledge by focusing on what leading scholars see as the two most important dimensions of social cohesion in Canadian society: social and political trust. The specific goal is to understand differences in trust across the nation’s major ethno-racial communities. I assess ethno-racial differences in what leading scholars believe are the two most important “facets” or “dimensions” of social cohesion in Canadian society. These are trust in other people, or what I refer to in the analysis as “social trust,” and confidence in political institutions, which is referred to as “political trust.” Building from the concepts of “social distance” and “social boundaries,” the thesis develops a set of hypotheses for explaining or understanding why some ethno-racial groups exhibit more or less social and political trust than others. The analysis tests three related but distinct groups of explanatory variables: (1) a set of three ethno-cultural “markers” or correlates of ethno-racial background, involving immigration status, religion, and language; (2) two key socioeconomic or class-related influences, namely, education and income; and (3) two indicators of social engagement or social connection, which include level of voluntary association activity and ethnic diversity of friendship networks. A key interest is in determining which of these sets of explanations is most effective in accounting for differences in social and political trust across Canada’s major ethno-racial groups. Using data from the Public Use Microdata file of the 2008 General Social Survey, a large national survey of more than 18,000 respondents, a series of models of social and political trust are tested. The models include each of the three groups of explanatory variables, and also incorporate controls for region, age, and gender and compare the levels of social and political of eight ethno-racial groupings: British, French, “Canadians,” other Europeans, Aboriginal Peoples, visible minorities, respondents with mixed origins, and all others. The main findings indicate that a theoretical perspective drawing on the concepts of social distance and social boundaries is useful for understanding many, though not all, of the differences in social and political trust that exist across Canada’s ethno-racial communities. The results show that, in contrast to more established groups like the British and Other Europeans, those groups that are more culturally distinctive, including visible minorities, French Canadians, and Aboriginal Peoples, have comparatively less trust in other people. This outcome is consistent with the interpretation that ethno-racial communities who experience more social distance from established groups, or are confronted with relatively greater social boundaries, are less able to develop social trust. In addition, these same groups, with the exception of Aboriginal Peoples, exhibit comparatively high trust in political institutions. The latter finding is consistent with the interpretation that culturally distinct minorities, in response to the impact of social distance or social boundaries processes, are more likely than other groups to see the government and its agencies as defenders of their minority rights and interests within Canada.

Abstract (French)

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