In Search of Canadian Political Culture
What do we really mean by phrases such as “western Canadian political culture,” “the centrist political culture of Ontario,” “Red Toryism in the Maritimes,” or “Prairie socialism”? What historical, geographical, and sociological factors came into play as these cultures were forged? In this book, Nelson Wiseman addresses many such questions, offering new ways of conceiving Canadian political culture.
The most thorough review of the national political ethos written in a generation, In Search of Canadian Political Culture offers a bottom-up, regional analysis that challenges how we think and write about Canada.
It will interest specialists in Canadian political culture and generalists in Canadian politics.
Awards
- 2008, Shortlisted - Outstanding Academic Title, CHOICE
Professor Wiseman has written two books in one, and both are interesting and of high quality. The first, comprising the initial five chapters of the work, is a thorough and thoughtful discussion of the concept ‘political culture.’ […] The second ‘book,’ then, is a review of regional and provincial differences. […]The review of the social and political histories of the provinces, and the different cultures that those histories have produced, is extraordinarily ambitious, and the result is a tribute to Professor Wiseman’s wide-ranging knowledge, the acuity of his perceptions, and the scholarship of his research. […] this book is an extraordinarily readable and insightful treatment of the political cultures of Canada.
This erudite and highly readable text is an outstanding survey of the fabric of political life in Canada. … Throughout the book, Wiseman’s voice is assured, mature, and articulates his masterful command of vast sweeps of data and history. Wiseman’s major achievement is to bring together so many disparate and often incompatible ideas into a comprehensive and comprehensible piece of writing. … contingencies and paradoxes are engagingly teased out throughout the book and in the process Wiseman’s text itself becomes an impressive intellectual reflection of the very complexities and nuances he explores.
Wiseman’s provocative book expands our understanding of policy options in Canada in a most novel way. …Wiseman turns and examines Canada regionally and uses the five waves of immigration the country has undergone since its beginning to define and to knit these regions together. What is unique is this thread of immigration that he weaves through his analysis. … Wiseman really sees Canada as a country of six regions. Unlike many scholars in the past, he does not seek commonality to overarch regional differences. … Based on secondary material, Wiseman offers a very useful, thought-provoking and fresh analysis of Canadian political culture. … Policy-makers in Canada will certainly find this book an essential read before embarking on their policy-making tasks.
Wiseman has written a superb book. … With its regional/provincial focus on political culture analysed in a comparative framework, it has unquestionably filled a major gap in our understanding. Finally, as a good book should, it leaves us with questions.
This volume is an excellent, comprehensive work on Canadian political culture. Wiseman approaches the subject through the prism of the country’s history while employing a broad framework that first considers the meaning of political culture and then covers institutions, the constitution, and the Canada’s regions, as well as their varied demographic components. Since immigration has played a critical role in the country’s development, Wiseman, an accomplished political scientist, meticulously traces the different perspectives each group brings to the Canadian context.
Canadian political culture is a pivotal aspect of the study of Canadian politics, both because it must be portrayed effectively for students and scholars to understand Canadian distinctiveness vis-à-vis the United States, and because it has drawn some of the best scholars and high-powered analytical techniques over the last seventy years. Wiseman’s book – itself a major contribution – builds on and directly contests some of the significant voices in this field. Innovative and inquiring, it helps make sense of our regional diversity.
In Search of Canadian Political Culture will become a vital resource for work in a number of fields – politics, sociology, history. Wiseman’s book is provocative, stimulating, rich in historical detail and insights, and written with both skill and boldness. For those interested in the puzzle of Canadian identity, it doesn’t get better than this.
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 Pathways to Canadian Political Culture
2 Surveying and Comparing Political Cultures
3 Constitutions and Institutions as Culture
4 Culture, Biculture, Multiculture, Aboriginal Culture
5 Regions and Political Culture
6 Atlantic Canada: Traditional Political Culture?
7 Quebec: Political Culture of a Distinct Society
8 Ontario: Archetypal English Canadian Political Culture
9 The Midwest: Social Democratic Political Culture?
10 The Far West: Parvenu Political Culture
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliographic Note
Index
