Models of Canadian Social Structure

This research reviews the Canadian social structure, and, through this review, assesses the validity of two models often used to describe Canadian society, as accurate descriptors of the Canadian social structure. The two models considered in this research are the class model, and the elite pluralist model (Porter, 1965).

The class model assumes divisions within Canadian society along the lines of British society, in which the working class, as an under class, is pitted against a business class, and even an upper class aristocracy (Forgese, 1983). The elite pluralist model recognizes the presence in Canadian society of elites, and recognizes that classical democracy, as that ideal is embraced in the concept of pluralism, does not exist in Canada. The elite pluralist model, however, holds that democratic values are preserved in Canada through a system of multiple, competing elites (Forgese, 1983). Within the concept of the elite pluralist model, competing elites determine public policy through bargaining and compromise, while the voting rights of the masses enable new elites to gain a share of the power within the Canadian social and political systems. Pure elitism is not generally thought to exist within Canadian society (Porter, 1965).

CANADIAN SOCIETY AS ELITE PLURALIST,

Elite theory holds that an elite is comprised of a relatively few people within a society who have and exercise power within that social system (Dye, & Ziegler, 19

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evolt," on the one hand, and "order and decency," on the other hand (Allen, 1961, p. 228). Opposing this view, working class Canadians, social activists, and the Methodist Church viewed the Winnipeg General Strike as a clash between "plutocratic greed and oppression," on the one hand, and "the rights of man," on the other hand (Allen, 1961, p. 228). Over the seven decades since the Winnipeg General Strike, the absolutes of 1919 have softened, and a widespread general consensus has developed, in which it is recognized that (1) the principles for which the strike was waged were just, (2) the demands of labour were reasonable, and (3) the reactions of the Canadian social elites of the day to the strike demands, and to the strike itself were the sources of most of the trouble. That this consensus view is generally correct is supported by the facts that (1) the most important demands of labor and social activists made during the Winnipeg General Strike have been recognized and enacted into law by government over the past 70 years, and (2) the political successor to the forces behind the Winnipeg General Strikethe New Democratic Partyhas emerged as a major political force in Canada. Among the legacies of the Winnipeg General Str

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