Us, Them, and Others: Pluralism and National Identity in Diverse Societies - Hardcover

Winter, Elke

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802096921 ISBN 13: 9780802096920

Publisher: University of Toronto Press, 2011

Synopsis

How do countries come to view themselves as being 'multicultural'? Us, Them, and Others presents a dynamic new model for understanding pluralism based on the triangular relationship between three groups — the national majority, historically recognized minorities, and diverse immigrant bodies. Elke Winter's research illustrates how compromise between unequal groups is rendered meaningful through confrontation with real or imagined outsiders.

Us, Them, and Others sheds new light on the astonishing resilience of Canadian multiculturalism in the late 1990s, when multicultural policies in other countries had already come under heavy attack. Winter draws on analyses of English-language newspaper discourses and a sociological framework to connect discourses of pan-Canadian multicultural identity to representations of Quebecois nationalism, immigrant groups, First Nations, and the United States. Taking inspiration from the Canadian experience, Us, Them, and Others is an enticing examination of national identity and pluralist group formation in diverse societies.

About this title

About the Author

Elke Winter is an associate professor of Sociology at the University of Ottawa. An alumna of the German National Merit Foundation, she also won the University of Ottawa’s 2010 Young Researcher of the Year Award.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802096921
• ISBN 13: 9780802096920
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288