APS 223: Sociology of Canadian Society

Multiculturalism is regarded as a key feature of Canada's national identity. Yet despite an increasingly diverse population, racialized Canadians are systematically excluded from full participation in society through personal and structural forms of racism and discrimination. Race and Anti-Racism in Canada provides readers with a critical examination of how racism permeates Canadian society and articulates the complex ways to bring about equity and inclusion both individual and systemically.

There are widely divergent views about racism in Canada. Some believe that racism is a fundamental feature of Canadian society and national identity. This dystopian view of Canada as a fundamentally and irrevocably racist society carries considerable currency in some academic and activist circles. Others argue that racism is oversold as a social problem: while pockets of racism do exist, Canada remains a fundamentally fair place for people of diverse backgrounds to prosper and flourish.

Recent demographic projections based on Statistics Canada data indicate that persons designated as belonging to a visible minority group will comprise 20% of the Canadian population by 2017. In Canada's major cities, the proportion of persons classified as visible minority is expected to exceed 50%. What is race, and how should racism be studied sociologically? What differences exist in patterns of structural incorporation within and among ethno-racial groups in Canada? What factors influence upward social mobility? Are Canadian institutions capable of meeting the needs of the country's increasingly diverse ethno-racial population?

Race still matters in Canada, and in the context of crime and criminal justice, it matters a lot. In this book, the authors focus on the ways in which racial minority groups are criminalized,as well as the ways in which the Canadian criminal justice system is racialized. Employing an intersectional analysis, Chan and Chunn explore how the connection between race and crime is further affected by class, gender, and other social relations.

This multidisciplinary volume brings together scholars and activists to examine expressions of racism in contemporary policy areas, including education, labour, immigration, media, and urban planning. While anti-racist struggles during the twentieth century were largely pitched against overt forms of racism (e.g., pogroms, genocide, segregation, apartheid, and 'ethnic cleansing'), it has become increasingly apparent that there are other, less visible, forms of racism.

Racism and Ethnicity : Global Debates, Dilemmas, Directions examines in detail the theories, histories and principal debates of race, racism and ethnicity within a global context. The text offers critical evaluation of the work of major figures from Du Bois to Goldberg, and presents new research on pre-modern racisms, contemporary scientific racisms, racist violence, racism reduction, ethnicity in the UK and European patterns of exclusion and discrimination