Social Issues: Sociological Views of Canada

Merritt Clifton was an environmental journalist and lived in Brigham, Quebec.

The subtitle, “sociological views of Canada,” could aptly be changed to “sociological views of academic sociology as practiced in a couple of major Canadian universities,” since there’s precious little included about anything else. Anyone really interested in the nature of Canadian society could pick up much more insight from any random selection of community newspapers. Despite promising essay subtitles, such as “Regional Differences in Canada,” “Inequality and Identity in Multi-Ethnic Societies,” “Women in Canadian Society,” and “The Mass Media In Canada,” only one contribution on a major public issue, “Population Aging and the Elderly,” seems directly concerned with the subject matter, rather than with other academic approaches to it. There, John F. Myles and Monica Boyd convincingly distinguish between an aging society, which Canada is, and an aged society, which, they argue (contrary to most pop sociology), we’re in no danger of becoming. They consider the relevance of our various public institutions to the elderly, pointing out areas of income distribution, educational organization, and medical care that must be restructured to truly meet the needs of the aged — e.g., degree programs on spread-out campuses hold little appeal to those who won’t need academic degrees for anything and who suffer restricted mobility. And a medical system oriented toward curing disease isn’t particularly reponsive toward those whose ailments can’t be cured but can only be temporarily alleviated.

Janice Monti Belkaui’s “Mass Media” essay offers a combination of laments about American competition, with observations such as “Quebec’s French language ... sensationalist gossip and crime tabloids and its sports, music and entertainment magazines reflect that province’s strong sense of community as well as its regional popular culture.” The same could be said for publications anywhere; just what else would regional, popular publications reflect? But Eileen Saunders’ “Women in Canadian Society” most epitomizes the navel-gazing attitude here. Although the final 20 pages of a 45-page essay do offer much significant statistical information, the first nine pages chiefly bewail an alleged lack of women sociologists, while the next 16 pointlessly review assorted sociological angles on women. By the time Saunders actually discusses her topic, her key points lie hopelessly buried. Ironically, she’s probably the most fluent writer of the whole miserably awkward 14-member contributor list.