The French Enigma: Survival and Development in Canada’s Francophone Societies - Softcover

Stebbins, Robert A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1550592017 ISBN 13: 9781550592016

Publisher: Brush Education, 2000

Synopsis

Canada suffers from an unfortunate cultural void, in that most Canadians lack knowledge about the country's francophones. Given that first and second-language francophones make up over thirty percent of this nation's population, and that French is one of three truly world languages, such ignorance is hardly blissful. In a rapidly globalizing world, this is not the time in history to let wither a major commercial and scientific advantage Canadians have over many of our First World competitors: using two main international languages. The originality of this book is to bring a new perspective on the social organization of the Canadian francophone in its broadest sense, an aspect less well analyzed and understood than the demographic and political situation of the francophone communities. Robert Stebbins has studied the organizational life, the routine social relations, the structure of the small isolated francophone communities, the educational system, and the visibility and public face of French. The francophone societies are examined comparatively, which helps him bring out the originality of the situations studied. Finally, it is necessary to highlight the originality of this book's organization: to determine first the characteristic traits of each society, then identify the existing issues within it. In addition to these empirical observations, the author brings an important theoretical contribution to the study of the French fact in Canada. This he does by questioning the relevance of the concept of ethnicity. If the concept of ethnicity seems appropriate for the study of diverse minorities, it is not for one of the two great founding groups of the country (to which the native peoples should be added, of course, as they have been rediscovered in the present). Stebbins uses Raymond Breton's concept of institutional completeness and that of l'espace francophone, advanced by geographers who have studied the francophone diaspora across North America. To these two ideas, Stebbins adds another: parity societies. This last concept relates to the bilingual communities; they have in the minority language a rather compete institutional network, critical mass of speakers of both languages, and access to some public services for store, government, health, and voluntary associations). There is no doubt that this will be an outstanding contribution to the sociology and history of French Canada.

About this title

About the Author:

Robert A. Stebbins, FRSC, is a professor in the Department of Sociology, University of Calgary, where he specializes in the sociology of art, sport, work, and leisure. He has published widely in those areas. Prof. Stebbins is himself a second-language francophone and is an avid volunteer in the Calgary francophone community.

About this edition

• Publisher: Brush Education
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1550592017
• ISBN 13: 9781550592016
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 254