SOC102H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Canadian Multiculturalism Act, Visible Minority, Racialization
Lecture 4 –Ethnicity, Racialization and Immigration
Racialized People (“visible minorities”) in Canada: Who are they?
They identify their race as non-Caucasian or their skin colour is non-white
- Are defined by the employment equity act as “visible minorities”
- A high proportion are immigrants or children of immigrants
- 19% of Canadians identify themselves as belonging to a “racialized group”
[note: aboriginal people are not included in these numbers]
Racialization: the habit of putting people into racial categories:
[Racialization is] the way race is produced and bestowed on people in institutional social actions
- Race is something people do to other people rather than a reflection of what/who they are
- We create racial inequality by creating and performing the idea of race and racial
differences
- Race is a projection of something people created and no a reflection of who people
actually are
From “visible minorities” to “racialized Canadians”:
The term “visible minorities” is losing acceptance because:
1. It reinforces a problematic belief that whiteness is not visible
2. It may promote stigmatization of certain (non-white) groups
White is a colour too, white is not the “norm”
Creating a set of differences that enable stigmatization and inequalities
Immigrants in Canada: Who are they?
Definition: an “immigrant” is anyone born elsewhere who has been permitted to live in Canada
permanently
- Not including foreigners with temporary work permits and foreign students
<321 000 arrived in 2015 –highest number since 1911, 1912, and 1913 (before the first world
war; people fleeing Europe)
Proportionally greater back then; the population was less back then
Period of economic recession, already less and less jobs and yet there are more people coming in
to a country (without the language, culture and necessary valued skills; or not permitted to use
skills e.g. doctor, engineer) into an unfriendly job market
Includes:
1. Economic immigrants (deemed to have skills)
- College graduates with multiple degrees with a very high level of performance
2. Family class immigrants (sponsored by close relatives, may not be skilled)
- Permitted because they are related to family, don’t fit as readily into job market and don’t
typically have the same valued skills
3. Refugees (in need of protection, may not be skilled)
- Neither kin nor skills, real problem; cannot assimilate quickly or painlessly into the
hostile job market
Considering that immigration has occurred for the last 15 000 years:
- All Canadians are descendants of immigrants (came when America was still attached to
the rest of the world)
- Whatever the reason they came, immigrants form new “ethnic” communities after
coming (people who are part of these communities continue to maintain a high degree of
visibility as separate communities, segregate themselves, refuses to assimilate)
- This lecture is about the inequalities that arise between ethnic communities, and the
reasons for them
Despite many deep similarities, people continue to celebrate superficial differences:
- Racial and ethnic identities have proved more resistant to change than early sociologists
had ever imagined
- Marx expected class identities to replace ethnic identities, especially in the minds of
class-conscious workers
- The survival of ethnicity would have also surprised Emile Durkheim and Max Weber
To maintain these differences, people “perform” symbolic acts of ethnicity:
Ethnicity is a performance, not an essential quality
- Ethnicity refers to perceived social and cultural characteristics people are believed to
share
- An Ethnic Group is a set of people who consider themselves, or are considered by others,
to share common cultural characteristics that distinguish them from other groups in
society
Some people may be very proud, others see it as a dividing factor
Ethnicity is NOT the same as race, based on some cultural similarity
The “ethnic community”, and imaginary world:
- High rates of immigration support the survival of ethnic groups
- In the end, an ethnic group is an imagined community: a set of people who think they
share a great deal because they (accidentally) share the same ethnic origins
- An ethnic community is a group of people with common ancestry, often living together in
a defined geographic location
- Many groups have historic friends and enemies, are able to tell if you are a part of the
group if you can speak the language or perform the customs
- Ethnicity is a small part of the mythologies we live by
Also kept alive by “multiculturalism”:
- In Canada, ethnic communities are helped to survive by Canada’s official policy of
multiculturalism
- This policy was intended to ensure that Canadian institutions would be tolerant and non-
discriminatory
- However, modern multiculturalism protects the survival of ethnic communities as a
means of protecting individuals against discrimination
- Modern multiculturalism has come to be the protection of ethnic communities (the
government wants to maintain these communities, moving money towards particular
groups and celebrating differences verses protecting individuals against discrimination)
Multicultural policies:
- Insiders say that Canada is tolerant and unprejudiced
- To prove this, they cite policies like the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Canadian
Multiculturalism Act of 1988, and the Employment Equity Act.
However, as we see, discriminatory acts continue, sometimes unconsciously
- There is still evidence of discrimination in our community
Racial “groups” like ethnicities and genders, are imagined and constructed:
Race refers to genetic differences that produce perceived differences in appearance
- However, many people also imagine races possess unique psychological and moral
characteristics that are absent in other races
Ethnic inequality is no longer relevant in Canada; Racial inequality is now the topic
Modern genetic research shows human “races” are more alike than different:
Increasingly scientists reject this essentialist view of race
- Genetic evidence shows that the so-called human races are significantly more alike than
they are different
There is a continuum of physical features among humans
- Also, no correlation between race and intelligence, morality, industry, or other social
characteristics
Creating differences: the importance of shared objects and “totemic objects”
Durkheim noted that ethnic and tribal communities are held together by shared group sentiments
–what he called a collective subconscious
Document Summary
They identify their race as non-caucasian or their skin colour is non-white. Are defined by the employment equity act as visible minorities . A high proportion are immigrants or children of immigrants. 19% of canadians identify themselves as belonging to a racialized group . [note: aboriginal people are not included in these numbers] Racialization: the habit of putting people into racial categories: [racialization is] the way race is produced and bestowed on people in institutional social actions. Race is something people do to other people rather than a reflection of what/who they are. We create racial inequality by creating and performing the idea of race and racial differences. Race is a projection of something people created and no a reflection of who people actually are. The term visible minorities is losing acceptance because: it reinforces a problematic belief that whiteness is not visible, it may promote stigmatization of certain (non-white) groups.
