The Vertical Mosaic Revisited

Jeffrey J. Cormier is a Ph.D. candidate specializing in Canadian society
at McGill University.

In 1965, John Porter published The Vertical Mosaic, a ground-breaking
empirical study of Canadian social stratification and inequality. To
commemorate the 30th anniversary of the book’s publication, a two-day
colloquium was held at the University of Waterloo in the fall of 1995.
The colloquium’s stated purpose was to re-evaluate Porter’s work in
light of the various changes that have taken place within Canadian
society since the 1960s. Five well-respected Canadian sociologists were
commissioned to present papers at the colloquium. Each had a threefold
task: first, to revisit the major premises of The Vertical Mosaic and
describe how the book influenced their respective areas of expertise;
second, to assess the changes that had taken place in Canadian society
over the last 30 years; and third, to discuss the major theoretical
developments in their fields.

This book, the end result of their efforts, is a fine example of
current Canadian sociological scholarship. In the opening chapter,
Wallace Clement discusses Porter’s work in relation to developments
within the Canadian political economy tradition. He points out that the
addition of class and gender has supplemented many of Porter’s
insights about inequality in Canada. Raymond Breton’s contribution is
a superb review of Porter’s views on ethnicity. Breton suggests that
while Porter focused mainly on the distributional aspects of ethnicity,
students of ethnicity today are more concerned with links between ethnic
groups. Pat Armstrong provides a feminist re-evaluation of The Vertical
Mosaic and demonstrates how the neoconservative agenda has weakened the
gains made by woman in the last 30 years. Michael Ornstein’s excellent
overview of elite studies in Canada, situates the legacy of The Vertical
Mosaic in that tradition. Finally, Julia O’Connor examines, within a
comparative perspectives, changes to the Canadian welfare state since
1960.

Each chapter, together with the editors’ biographical introduction,
demonstrates a fine appreciation of Porter’s seminal work, striking
the perfect balance between well-deserved reverence and critical
distance.