Ideologies in Quebec: The Historical Development

In the years since 1960, Quebec has been transformed by the momentum of the Quiet Revolution and the social and economic impact of modernization. Historians, social scientists, and other commentators have been prompted to take a fresh look at the question of Quebec's future as a society -- and to attempt a scientific response. The last two decades have seen unprecedented development in the social sciences in the province.
Professor Moniere brings a focus to Quebec's evolution by studying its ideologies. He locates them in their dynamic economic and historical contexts from the French regime to the present. In so doing, he reveals their relationships to social classes. With few exceptions, the history of ideologies is the history of the ideas of the ruling class. Moniere stresses material on the labour movement in order to compensate for this tendency, but takes care not to identify any particular ideology with the whole of Quebecois society. His choice of time periods and themes, and of the men and movements by which ideas were spared, highlights the economic and political liberation of Quebec labour at work throughout Quebec's history, as well as the ways in which this class has been blocked.
This book brings scholarship on ideologies to the fore, opening up the collective memory and putting today's problems in perspective. It is a provocative presentation offering me an important insight into how the radical strain views itself and the future of Quebec and the country. It is of particular interest to political scientists and to all interested in the evolution of Canadian society.

Denis Moniere is a member of the Department of Political Science at l'Universite de Montreal.