Canadian Social Structure

Two general class models are used most often in describing the Canadian social structure (Forgese, 1983). The first of these models is the pluralist, which holds that assimilation in the Canadian social structure has occurred in such a way that, while ethnic, racial, and economic divisions continue to exist, the dominance of a social elite has been eliminated. The second of the models is the elite, which holds both that divisions remain within the Canadian social structure, and that the Canadian social structure is hierarchical in character. This research reviews the Canadian social structure, and, through this review, assesses the validity of the two models, as accurate descriptors of the Canadian social structure.

Assimilation, generally, is defined as the process of incorporating various racial and ethnic groups into a societyto which they have immigrated, in such a way that they mayhenceforth be described by the characteristics of the society in which they have been assimilated, as opposed to the characteristics of the societies from which they came (Gordon, 1964). On a formal level, assimilation is a "process of interpretation

and fusion in which persons and groups acquire the memories, sentiments, and attitudes of other persons or groups, and, by sharing their experience and history, are incorporated with them into a common life" (Gordon, 1964, p. 62). Cultural pluralism

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ilation as most members of the population majority in Canada desire. The third major reason working against full assimilation in Canada is historical example. The francophone minority in Canada (primarily Quebec) has not been fully assimilated, 4nor are there in 1990, or have there ever been, any indications that francophones desire an assimilation with anglophone Canada. Anglophone Canada has always sought francophone assimilation on terms which would treat the francophones as virtual immigrants to Canada, and, for their part, the francophones attempt to treat anglophones in a similar manner within the Province of Quebec. A second historical example involves the native peoples of Canada. In attempts to assimilate native populations into the Canadian social structure, both anglophone and francophone Canada have wreaked havoc on native cultures in Canada. The Mulroney government in Ottawa, in a fit of pique over the defeat of the Meech Lake Accord, and the Bourassa government in Quebec City, in a typical example of francophone obstancy and wrongheadedness, reinforced the historical treatment of Canada's native peoples, as they dealt with the crises on Montreal's south shore. The opposite pole of the assimilationcult

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