SOCI 210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 23: Social Capital, Social Change
6 Nov 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Guest lecturer
Multicultural pride and prejudice
Rapid theoretical overview
What is the utility of multiculturalism in Canada
Symbolic benefits
Institutionalizes cultural citizenship
□
Reconfigures the parameters of nationhood
□
As a massified national identity and form of social
capital, multiculturalism conditions pro-immigrant
and anti-racist attitudes in Canada
□
§
Tangible benefits
Remedies structural inequalities in employment
□
§
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•
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Change Through Policy and the Law - part 2
Social change through policy
Citizenship and policy change (political efficacy)
Political participation broadly understood (e.g. interest group
mobilization)
○
Waagenar (2017:12): "collaborative governance"
A mode of governance in which public agencies engage
with various stakeholders to jointly deliberate about public
problem
§
Example: people involved in sex work actually engaging in
the Dutch government
§
○
Voting in elections
Voting rates in decline, especially among the young
§
Voting rates are significantly lower for younger people
than for older people
§
Reasons why people don't vote in Canada (2011):
27.7% not interested
□
22.9% too busy
□
11.4% other
□
10.1% out of town/away
□
8.5% own illness or disability□
7.6% did not like candidates/issues□
3.8% forgot to vote□
3.7% not on voters list□
2.9% too difficult or transportation problem□
1.3% religious beliefs□
0.3% weather conditions□
§
○
•
Social capital and civic engagement
Social capital
Social resources that individuals can draw on when making
decisions and can act on
○
Strongly held belief that this helps individuals see that there are
benefits to working together and therefore transforms this "I"
into a "we"
○
Changes in social capital lead to changes in our ability and
willingness to act
○
Putnam excerpts ("bowling alone")
Erosion of social capital
§
Decline in neighbourhood parties, attendance at public
meetings, church going, union membership, volunteering,
voting participation
§
People are continuing to go bowling, in some years there
are more bowlers than voters, but there aren't any leagues
We are no longer as social□
§
○
What is to blame?
Putnam
Media□
Technological transformation leisure□
Television has led to individualized and privatized
ways of getting entertainment
□
We tend to live in isolated houses, spending our lives
in cars going to and from home
□
We no longer go to small businesses□
§
○
•
Lecture 23
Thursday, November 23, 2017
10:06 AM
Document Summary
What is the utility of multiculturalism in canada. As a massified national identity and form of social capital, multiculturalism conditions pro-immigrant and anti-racist attitudes in canada. Change through policy and the law - part 2. Political participation broadly understood (e. g. interest group mobilization) A mode of governance in which public agencies engage with various stakeholders to jointly deliberate about public problem. Example: people involved in sex work actually engaging in the dutch government. Voting rates in decline, especially among the young. Voting rates are significantly lower for younger people than for older people. Reasons why people don"t vote in canada (2011): Social resources that individuals can draw on when making decisions and can act on. Strongly held belief that this helps individuals see that there are benefits to working together and therefore transforms this i into a we Changes in social capital lead to changes in our ability and willingness to act.
