Showing papers in "Canadian Journal of Political Science in 1974"

Regional Political Cultures in Canada

Abstract: Les cultures politiques regionales au CanadaDans le contexte canadien, le concept de « regionalisme » s'entend de bien des facons. La presente etude explore des dimensions peu connues de ce phenomene. Des donnees tirees de sondages effectues en 1965 et 1968 par John Meisel, il ressort d'importantes differences entre les electorats provinciaux concernant la participation, l'efficacite et la confiance politiques. Ces donnees, une fois transposees sur des echelles a l'aide de la technique de Guttman et de l'analyse factorielle, ont fait l'objet d'analyses de variance et de tableaux de contingence. Est alors apparu l'existence dans les provinces maritimes et parmi les populations francophones, de taux relativement peu eleves d'efficacite et de confiance politiques, alors que ces memes taux etaient beaucoup plus eleves dans les autres regions anglophones du pays comme la Colombie Britannique, l'Ontario et le Manitoba.De telles differences interprovinciales ne constituent cependant pas en elles-memes une preuve convaincante de l'existence de cultures politiques regionales puisque ces differences peuvent etre imputables aux diverses caracteristiques socio-economiques et demographiques qui influent sur les attitudes politiques. Il appert toutefois que, meme en controlant l'apport de ces diverses caracteristiques, les differences regionales se maintiennent. Bien plus, la nature des controles produit des resultats differents d'une region a une autre. Les auteurs en concluent qu'au dela des facteurs socio-economiques, il existe des cultures provinciates issues de l'experience historique et des traditions politiques particulieres a chaque province, phenomene dont ils tentent de degager les causes et les consequences.

Party Loyalty and Electoral Volatility: A Study of the Canadian Party System

Abstract: Fidelite partisane et volatilite electorate: une etude de la clientele des partis politiques canadiensIl est generalement admis que la clientele des partis politiques canadiens varie beaucoup d'une election a l'autre a cause de la faible loyaute dont font preuve les electeurs a l'egard des principaux partis. L'analyse de resultats electoraux ainsi que de donnees provenant de deux sondages demontre cependant que l'identification partisane est sensiblement la meme au Canada et aux Etats-Unis, que la clientele des principaux partis est au moins aussi stable que celle des tiers partis, et que la famille constitue l'un des fondements les plus importants de la stabilite partisane au Canada.

The Canadian Political Cultures: Towards a Redefinition of the Nature of the Canadian Political System*

Abstract: Les cultures politiques au CanadaOn concoit generalement le systeme politique canadien comme etant compose de deux entites fondamentalement distinctes : les Francais et les Anglais. Les differences entre les deux sont presumees etre si grandes qu'elles dichotomisent le Canada en deux cultures politiques. Par ailleurs, est aussi conventionnellement admise l'existence d'importantes differences de comportement politique et de vecu historique entre les diverses parties du Canada anglais, si bien qu'il n'est pas impensable d'attribuer au Canada d'autres divisions significatives.L'auteur etablit tout d'abord que les provinces constituent des systemes politiques independants puisque chacune d'entre elles exerce une juridiction legislative autonome dans tous les secteurs essentiels de la vie sociale et economique de ses habitants. Se fondant sur l'observation selon laquelle plusieurs des differences entre les provinces sont imputables a leur niveau de developpement et sur le constat de l'apparentement theorique entre le concept de developpement et celui de culture politique, il en vient ensuite a suggerer l'existence d'un rapport entre d'une part les divers niveaux de developpement politique auxquels sont parvenues les provinces et d'autre part les elements de culture politique qui les differencient.Ce rapport fonde une theorie generale du developpement des systemes de partis politiques selon laquelle les divers types de systemes bipartites correspondent a certaines periodes historiques, et les systemes tripartites sont essentiellement le propre des communautes politiques en transition entre la preindustrialisation et l'industrialisation avancee. Une analyse des systemes de partis des diverses provinces canadiennes basee sur cette theorie permet d'etablir que les provinces maritimes en sont aux toutes premieres etapes du developpement politique, que le Quebec, l'Ontario, le Manitoba et la Colombie Britannique traversent, a des degres differents, la phase transitoire et que l'Alberta et la Saskatchewan ont atteint un niveau avance de developpement.Ces conclusions sont verifiees a l'aide de donnees d'un sondage canadien (1968), d'un sondage ontarien (1967) et d'un sondage manitobain (1973), de meme que d'une etude sur les caracteristiques socio-economiques des candidats aux legislatures provinciales. D'une facon tres generale, la theorie des niveaux differentiels de developpement politique provincial s'avere fondee. L'auteur en conclut qu'il est vraisemblable de penser qu'il existe plus que deux cultures politiques au Canada.

Explaining the Religious Basis of the Canadian Partisan Identity: Success on the Third Try

Abstract: The various subtables of Table i , or some variant of them, must be familiar to every teacher and to every student of Canadian voting behaviour. While most of our history books, and certainly all of our current concerns, focus on cultural differences in Canada, all our voting and party identification data suggest that the primary line of political division is between Roman Catholics and non-Catholics. The leftmost tables in the two rows of Table i indicate that religious differences are approximately three times as strong as ethnic ones, regardless of the index chosen. The percentage difference in Liberal identifiers is 20 across religious categories, but only 6 across the ethnic ones; the phi coefficient is.21 as compared to.06, while Yule's Q is.42 as opposed to.13. Nor is this simply an artifact. The same finding shows up for vote as for party identification, for a linguistic dichotomy as for an ethnicity dichotomy, and for undichotomized as for dichotomized variables. Similarly, the religious dichotomy need not be imposed, but emerges quite freely when similar data are analysed with the aid program. Indeed, one need not depend on using dichotomies at all, though the analysis becomes more complex. In each case, however, the basic generalization holds.

The Perceived Structure of the Canadian Party Systems

Abstract: La perception ordonnee de l'ideologie des partis politiques canadiens La plupart des chercheurs acceptent comme evident l'enonce selon lequel les partis politiques canadiens peuvent etre ordonnes selon le critere droite-gauche : le ndp etant percu comme etant a gauche, le Parti liberal au centre, le Parti progressisteconservateur a droite et le Credit social a l'extreme droite. La presente etude a pour objet de verifier la veracite de certaines propositions implicites a cette approche : (1) un seul critere suffit pour situer les partis les uns par rapport aux autres; (2) ce critere est applicable de pareille facon partout au Canada; (3) l'appartenance a un parti n'influence pas la perception ordonnee des partis . A l'aide de donnees provenant de sondages effectues en 1965 et en 1968, il est demontre qu'aucune de ces propositions n'est valide. S'il apparait que les electeurs ont une perception relativement claire d'un continuum npd – Liberal – Conservateur, ils ne s'entendent pas sur la place a assigner aux Creditistes. De plus, les residents de la Colombie Britannique et des Prairies ont une egale tendance a concevoir les Conservateurs comme situes a gauche des Liberaux, et les Liberaux comme a gauche des Conservateurs. Enfin, certains partisans politiques (et notamment ceux du ndp ) ordonnent les partis d'une facon differente des autres . L'auteur en conclut que le critere droite-gauche, bien que pertinent, ne saurait decrire a lui seul les perceptions spatiales globales de l'ideologie des partis. Il propose que le critere centre-peripherie soit utilise comme seconde dimension des perceptions ideologiques ordonnees.

A National Sample Design

Abstract: The construction of national survey samples in Canada involves a number of theoretical and practical problems that range well beyond purely statistical considerations. Sample sizes for instance will tend to be large in comparison with those employed in many other nations not for greater accuracy but primarily because of the sheer diversity and geographical dispersion of the Canadian population. Likewise, the high cost of survey research at the national level in Canada virtually dictates that substantial efforts be made to achieve an “optimum” design for any single study. The purpose of this note therefore is to outline in brief the several considerations which underlay the design of a national sample for the post-election survey which will be carried out under our direction following the federal election of July 1974. It is offered as a commentary on the steps that were taken to provide a sample design consistent with the research focus of the project. The design has a number of important implications for both primary and secondary analysis of what will be the third national election study to be carried out in Canada. Each of these studies has followed particular theoretical interests, in all cases having important implications for potential use of the data set by other analysts.

Political Culture and the Politics of Culture

Abstract: "Presidential addresses," it has been suggested by a recently retired head of the American Political Science Association, "are read largely, perhaps exclusively, by subsequent presidents when the arts of procrastination finally fail and they are driven to confront the doleful prospect of writing their own address and, in the course of so doing, are moved to seek a feel for what has gone before."' Since the Canadian Political Science Association in its new guise is only seven years old, my task of getting this feel was not only enjoyable but also easy. This was particularly so since the first incumbent of the post I am about to vacate decided to fade away in silence a precedent we probably all, right now, wish had become a constitutional convention. Among the remaining five addresses two, those of Douglas Verney and Gilles Lalande, dealt with the state of the discipline; two others, by Don Smiley and Ted Hodgetts, related to the substance of their scholarly activities but contained an admirable dash of normative concern, and the paper by my immediate predecessor, Jean Laponce, was an original signpost not only for political scientists but for social science in general. My own musings spring from a professional interest to which I have heretofore never confessed and to which I hope to devote myself in the future. Its importance and fascination will, I also hope, induce others to pursue it. I shall argue that political science has neglected many critical aspects of what I shall define as leisure culture and that this state of affairs ought to change. To remedy this neglect may call for yet another new perspective or direction in political studies. We shall have to ask ourselves whether all that is needed is an additional focus for research whether we merely need to explore and work a heretofore neglected field or whether what is required is a fundamental reorientation of the discipline, like those associated with the behavioural and post-behavioural revolutions.2

Ethnic vs Class Voting: The Case of Winnipeg, 1945

Abstract: This paper examines the relationship of social class, ethnicity, and voting in the city of Winnipeg in the 1945 provincial election. Our data sources were the 1946 census and provincial election returns. The Winnipeg provincial constituency was selected for a number of reasons. In 1945, it corresponded to the city of Winnipeg boundaries, thus permitting the correlation of the 1946 Census of the Prairie Provinces data with the October 1945 voting results. Second, it had both a large number of non-British voters and candidates, which allowed a test for the importance of ethnic voting. Third, Winnipeg had (and has) a large working-class population and pockets of upper-class areas, permitting a test for the importance of class voting. Finally, as a multi-member constituency returning 10 members, a system of proportional representation was employed. With 20 candidates in the running for 10 seats, 15 ballot transfers were necessary before all 10 candidates were declared elected. An examination of these ballot transfers permits a corroborating test for class and ethnic voting.

La vrai nature de … la Révolution tranquille

Abstract: Cet article cherche a verifier de facon empirique certaines hypotheses deduites de l'analyse theorique de Gilles Bourque et Nicole Frenette portant sur la periode de la Revolution tranquille (1960–5). Il s'agira essentiellement de verifier si la nouvelle petite bourgeoisie quebecoise a su transformer de facon significative la role de l'Etat quebecois pour en faire une arme importante de sa lutte pour une position hegemonique.

Peer-Group Socialization among German Students

Abstract: When compared to research on the family and the school, the study of peer groups within the context of political socialization is a relatively neglected area. Somewhat more concern for peer-group effects has been indicated by non-political social scientists, especially social psychologists. But even though some of their work is suggestive, its application is often marginal for explaining political attitudes. Just as the existing theory on peer-group political socialization is weak, so are the existing data and analysis. The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature and extent of peer-group socialization among German students. This analysis is based on a survey of student attitudes at the University of Cologne. The survey is a random sample of 855 respondents and was carried out in 1968.

The Effects of Ruralism, Bureaucratic Structure, and Economic Role on Right-Wing Extremism

Abstract: This theory explains the susceptibility of the old middle class to right-wing ideology as a response to their lack of involvement in the power structure and decision process of modern capitalism. Specifically, the old middle class is largely excluded from both public and private bureaucracies. This relative exclusion from power induces frustration and alienation which in turn increases susceptibility to the appeals of right-wing extremism. The mass-society theory downplays the importance of such traditional economic variables as income and class the main factor is

Pour une analyse politique du patronage

Abstract: Towards a political analysis of patronage Political patronage is a phenomenon which has already been analysed and evaluated from many angles. An analytical model inspired by cybernetics is proposed here as a framework for the interpretation of the phenomenon. Such a model leads one to observe interactions between the different actors of a given society in terms of power relations. Using the ideas suggested by the model, the author describes patronage as a complex process in which a client relationship is established between patron and client, following which the former tries to alter his relationship with his opponents in political competition. Through the establishment of a client relationship, the patron helps to pull the client out from a certain state of weakness so as to obtain the means which the client wants for himself. Consequently, thanks to the means obtained by the client, which help him augment his power, the patron tries once more to alter his relations with his rivals in the political competition. In this sense, patronage permits a double transformation. On an empirical level two questions are posed. Can one trace an evolutionary pattern in the practice of patronage by political parties in Quebec between 1944 and 1972, and in what sense can patronage be defined? Does patronage have different characteristics depending on whether it is practised by the Liberal party or the Union nationale in the period under review?

Party and Candidate Expenditures in the Canadian General Election of 1972

Abstract: A calculation similar in manner to that employed by the Advisory Committee on Election Expenses, and by the author for earlier elections, reveals that a conservative estimate of over-all spending by political parties and candidates in the 1972 federal general election campaign would have amounted to well over $200,000 per election must be computed in order to arrive at the full cost of the electoral process.)

The Social Base of Interwar Political Unrest in Urban Alberta

Abstract: The years between the wars were precarious ones for Canadians. For the working class, wages increased between 1919 and 1929, but changes were irregular; the wage gains of one year were frequently lost in succeeding years.1 Not surprisingly, from the beginning of the Depression to 1939 the working class was generally worse off than it had been throughout the twenties. At the same time, though, the cost-of-living index declined from 121.1 in 1929 to 94.3 in 1933.. Pre-Depression levels in the cost of living were not reached again until 1945.2 This is not to say that decreases in the cost of living were equal to the decline in income. The misery of the Depression years is too well documented to make any such argument credible.3

Political Knowledge among Youth: Some Notes on Public Opinion Formation*

Abstract: Political socialization is defined as the acquisition of orientations, beliefs, and values relating to the political system of which an individual is a part. In this study we are concerned with political knowledge about one of David Easton's major components of a political system: the authorities.

Education, Language, and Multidimensional Continentalism

Abstract: In this short paper I shall seek to determine the empirical support for two hypotheses about the social sources of continentalism.

L'effet en amont de la carte électorale: le cas de la région de Québec à l'élection fédérale de 1968*

Abstract: The Effect of Redistributing Municipalities: the Case of Quebec in the Federal Election of 1968The authors of this article wished to test two hypotheses about the effect of transferring municipalities from one constituency to another, using the case of Quebec in the federal election of 1968. The first hypothesis was that there would be more shifting of votes in municipalities which had been transferred to a new electoral district. The second was that the change in voting in these municipalities would be in the direction of the trend displayed in the new location. Thus, for example, the vote for the Liberal party would increase in a municipality which was now in a constituency that was more Liberal in its voting pattern.The two suppositions were confirmed very clearly for the Conservative vote. However, only the first hypothesis was sustained by the Creditiste vote, while neither hypothesis held for the Liberal vote. The authors suggest that the Conservative vote is more strongly influenced by local circumstances at the regional level of politics. Hence, the impact of redistribution would vary according to the regional (or national) strength of a party.

Socrates as Political Partisan

Abstract: Socrate, le partisanPlutot qu'un philosophe engage dans la recherche detachee, desinteressee et transcendantale de la Verite, Socrate semble avoir ete un authentique partisan politique, voire meme l'un des plus grands ideologues de tous les temps. Une telle affirmation n'a pas pour but de denigrer ni la personne ni la philosophie de Socrate, mais bien de permettre une meilleure comprehension de son activite intellectuelle et, possiblement, de la philosophie en general. Contrairement a l'opinion generalement repandue selon laquelle Socrate etait d'origine populaire, il appert que sa provenance familiale, son education, son mariage et ses revenus (en debut de carriere, tout au moins) le classent probablement dans une strate sociale superieure a la moyenne de ses concitoyens atheniens. Parmi ses amis et ses connaissances, d'un statut social similaire au sien, on retrouve plusieurs opposants a la democratie athenienne et defenseurs de la politique de Sparte. On concoit done facilement que les idees politiques de Socrate aient ete enracinees dans une conceptualisation foncierement anti-democratique composee des elements suivants: une antipathie fondamentale a l'egard des assises de la pratique democratique que sont l'egalite et le consensus; un mepris ouvert pour les milieux populaires; une critique forcenee des institutions et des dirigeants de la democratie athenienne; et une admiration pour les institutions et la politique de Sparte. De plus, il apparait que ses propositions philosophiques les plus importantes, concernant les notions de definition, de connaissance et d'âme, traduisent, en meme temps qu'elles leur procurent des assises intellectuelles, et son ideologie anti-democratique et sa position de classe. Toutes ces considerations nous permettent de mieux comprendre – a defaut d'excuser – la condamnation de Socrate par le peuple et les dirigeants atheniens en 399 av. jc, a la suite de leur desastreuse defaite aux mains de Sparte et de l'experience traumatisante du terrorisme sous les Trente Tyrans.

Information and Administration in the Soviet Union: Some Theoretical Considerations

Abstract: One of the major concerns of Soviet specialists in the West has been the development, elaboration, and revision of models that describe the essential nature of Soviet politics or certain aspects of the Soviet political system.Some of these models start from a set of preconceptions about the unique nature of the Soviet political system or the distinctive characteristics which sharply differentiate its operation from the functioning of Western political systems. Examples of the Western models of Soviet politics which stress the differences between the two systems are the totalitarian model and its variations and adaptations2 and various kremlinological models.3 Other approaches begin from the assumption that there are certain political processes common to all industrialized, complex societies. This assumption has led to the development of bureaucratic models,4 a prefectoral model,5 and interest-group models6 of the Soviet political process. There is disagreement among Western scholars regarding the terminology to be used in describing these processes and there is sharp disagreement over the very nature of these processes and their meaning for our interpretation of Soviet politics. However, there is common agreement that much can be learned about the nature of the Soviet political process by starting with concepts and ideas derived from Western political experience.

The Normative Status of Talcott Parsons' and David Easton's Analyses of the Support System

Abstract: Le statut normatif du concept systemique de soutien politique chez Parsons et EastonOn peut concevoir un enonce analytique, ou paradigme, comme un lien logique entre une proposition normative et une recherche empirique. Dans cette perspective, l'auteur analyse les enonces theoriques systemiques formules par Parsons et Easton concernant la notion de soutien politique afin d'eclairer les rapports logiques qu'ils entretiennent avec certains aspects normatifs du liberalisme classique. Il appert que les enonces de Parsons, contrairement a ceux d'Easton, sont relies aux concepts classiques d'egalite et de consentement. Cette differenciation theorique, qui a peu d'importance du point de vue de l'observateur d'un systeme politique, est capitale aux yeux du participant politique puisque c'est le rapport logique entre le paradigme et la proposition normative qui determine si les applications empiriques du paradigme seront jugees acceptables par le participant.