Making Vancouver: Class, Status, and Social Boundaries, 1863-1913

Ann Turner is the financial and budget manager of the University of
British Columbia Library.

Making Vancouver is a sociological and historical study of the people
who participated in the growth of the city, from early settlements on
Burrard Inlet to the metropolis that had come to exist just before World
War I. Racially and ethnically diverse, the population defined social
status and the social hierarchy in terms that transcended traditional
class boundaries. Three general groupings emerge from the analysis: an
economically powerful upper class; a broad “middling” social group
that comprised the middle class and the upper working class; and a lower
working class. But within these groups a concept of “citizens”
versus “outsiders”—based on ethnic origins and other
factors—further stratified the social structure. It was a complex,
fluid society with many conflicting elements. In the course of teasing
out its strands and examining their relationships to one another as the
economy waxed and waned, the author provides a richly detailed
description of life in Vancouver during its formative years as well as
considerable insight into the social fabric of the present-day city.

The book is carefully researched and extensively footnoted with sources
and explanatory material. Historical photographs, maps, and numerous
statistical tables illustrate the text; the 17-page select bibliography
includes many primary sources. This is a significant contribution to the
study of Vancouver’s history and to urban sociology in general.