Book Review: Cormier, The Canadianization Movement

Jeffrey Cormier.
The Canadianization Movement: Emergence, Survival, and Success.
University of Toronto Press, 2004, 380 pp.
$65.00 hardcover (0-8020-8815-5)

In an era of globalization, national sovereignty becomes more fragile, national cultures are penetrated by transnational flows of ideas and media products, and national identities are increasingly porous. Jeffrey Cormier offers the reader a focused and carefully researched analysis of the response of Canadian intellectuals to these forces. For Canadians, these pressures are not entirely new, because proximity to the American giant, linguistic permeability of the Anglophone regions to U.S. culture, and a complex and fragmented national identity have produced longstanding challenges to maintaining a distinct national culture. In contrast to places where languages such as Catalan, Basque, and Welsh form sturdy quasi-natural barriers to cultural incursions from powerful neighbors, Anglophone Canada finds more difficulty in preserving a distinct culture against that of the United States with its global power and corporate backing. Indeed, the Canadianization movement that Cormier analyzes did not confront the U.S.giant in all terrains of cultural contention, but only in a very limited arena — academic appointments, especially in sociology and anthropology — where relatively few profits were at stake. There is a marked contrast to the struggle for Canadian content in the media, and although Cormier does not spell out the comparison, readers of his book will want to reflect on contrasts and convergence between academia and the media.

Cormier provides a case study of the dynamics of the Canadianization movement among Canadian academics. He traces the process through a series of steps, hurdles, and hinges that took the movement from oppositional consciousness to a modest and decidedly pragmatic success. This process included: first, in the 1960s, a growing willingness to problematize the presence of large numbers of U.S.nationals in Canadian higher education; the emergence of movement leaders and an organization that focused on reforms; the strategies that evolved to restrict U.S. entry into Canadian academic labor markets; changes in the movement over time, from the 1960s to the mid-1980s; and its institutionalization and outcome.

Cormier's analysis is strongly theoretical and uses social-movement-organization theory in a broad contemporary perspective that encompasses concepts such as frame resonance, social networks, mobilizing structures, identity-formation, strategy and tactics, and the role of the state and public policy in movement outcomes, as well as the more traditional concepts of resource mobilization and opportunity structures. The full range of concepts is used to explain the origins of the movement, its unfolding over time, and its eventual modestly successful outcome. Cormier traces how a broad, grassroots cultural identity movement with charismatic leaders (Robin Mathews and James Steele) moved into established channels (the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association) and eventually won its victories largely through institutional pressures on the formation of public policy. This shift is a major theme of the analysis.

Ultimately the institutional mechanisms of the state — regulatory policies of the Canadian federal government concerning immigration and academic labor markets — were crucial in the outcome. Canadianization attained its successes by a long march through professional associations.and disciplines; its goals narrowed or were shrunk in the process, but not lost. Cormier emphasizes that increased institutionalization did not diminish the impact of the movement, but on the contrary, contributed directly to its success. Key reforms accomplished by the movement included mandatory open advertising of academic positions to Canadians, federal guidelines to ensure efforts to fill vacancies with Canadian citizens or landed immigrants, a Canadian affirmative action policy (that grouped Canadians with women as categories to be brought into academia in larger numbers), and a strong push to develop Canadian studies and encourage research on Canadian society. In sociology and anthropology, it was possible to create legitimacy for Canadianization because it made sense to call for the study of Canadian society and Canadian cultures and to use this focus as a criterion in academic curriculum development and hiring. The reforms might have been more difficult to legitimate and initiate in a culture- and location-neutral discipline like chemistry or astrophysics. Although the standards for the first round of advertising were relaxed in 2003, the package of reforms did contribute to a much stronger presence of Canadians in academic positions and to the growth of Canadian studies.

Cormier gives careful attention to the dialectic of movement and organization. His analysis includes on the one hand, the relationships between movements, movement organizations and the state; and on the other hand, relationships between movement organizations and the broad unorganized processes of identity formation and oppositional consciousness. Cormier's work is highly congruent with new developments in social movement theory, most notably the focus on the three-way linkage of movements, cultural identities, and states (exemplified in the collection of articles edited by David Meyer, Nancy Whittier, and Belinda Robnett, Social Movements: Identity, Culture, and the State, Oxford University Press, 2002).

A strong point of the book is the handling of time as a key dimension in the study of social movements. Cormier provides an historical analysis in which the chronological narrative is guided by and interwoven with the conceptual/theoretical framework. Through the lens of social-movement-organization theory we can trace the unfolding of the movement in its historical context. Time as a key dimension appears both in his treatment of the historical context of events and developments (for example, the way in which the movement emerged in the context of Canadian opposition to the war in Vietnam and urban racial turmoil in the U.S.) and in his analysis of the trajectory of the movement, the internal and external events and hinges that propelled it along its course. The theoretical analysis is certainly never subordinated to the chronological narrative, while events and trends are carefully documented with archival materials and interview data.

Cormier's theoretically informed case study will be of interest to several groups of readers: Canadians will obviously find the movement of considerable practical and immediate interest, and as noted above, may draw comparisons with the regulation of Canadian content in the media. In addition to its interest for Canadian readers, the research provides an excellent case study in cultural nationalism, in the formation and defense of what Benedict Anderson called imagined communities. It thereby highlights a new twist of globalization: in an earlier period, intellectual nationalism, the defense of national culture, and the effort to create barriers to the free movement of culture were usually reactionary positions. But in recent decades, in the face of relentless globalization driven by powerful economic forces and corporate actors, the protection of the local — and the national is increasingly local — has become at least ambiguous, and maybe even decidedly progressive; and such movements can be seen as defenders of cultural diversity on a global scale.

Roberta Garner
DePaul University, Chicago

Roberta Garner (Professor and Chair, Sociology Department) has published in the area of social movements and sociological theory. Currently she is an editor and contributor to The New Chicago: A Social and Cultural Analysis (Temple University Press, projected 2005 publication date) which examines the impact of globalization on the economy, politics, culture, and social dynamics of Chicago and its metropolitan region.


	Canadian Journal of Sociology Online November-December 2004 Jeffrey Cormier. The Canadianization Movement: Emergence, Survival, and Success. University of Toronto Press, 2004, 380 pp. $65.00 hardcover (0-8020-8815-5) In an era of globalization, national sovereignty becomes more fragile, national cultures are penetrated by transnational flows of ideas and media products, and national identities are increasingly porous. Jeffrey Cormier offers the reader a focused and carefully researched analysis of the response of Canadian intellectuals to these forces. For Canadians, these pressures are not entirely new, because proximity to the American giant, linguistic permeability of the Anglophone regions to U.S. culture, and a complex and fragmented national identity have produced longstanding challenges to maintaining a distinct national culture. In contrast to places where languages such as Catalan, Basque, and Welsh form sturdy quasi-natural barriers to cultural incursions from powerful neighbors, Anglophone Canada finds more difficulty in preserving a distinct culture against that of the United States with its global power and corporate backing. Indeed, the Canadianization movement that Cormier analyzes did not confront the U.S.giant in all terrains of cultural contention, but only in a very limited arena — academic appointments, especially in sociology and anthropology — where relatively few profits were at stake. There is a marked contrast to the struggle for Canadian content in the media, and although Cormier does not spell out the comparison, readers of his book will want to reflect on contrasts and convergence between academia and the media. Cormier provides a case study of the dynamics of the Canadianization movement among Canadian academics. He traces the process through a series of steps, hurdles, and hinges that took the movement from oppositional consciousness to a modest and decidedly pragmatic success. This process included: first, in the 1960s, a growing willingness to problematize the presence of large numbers of U.S.nationals in Canadian higher education; the emergence of movement leaders and an organization that focused on reforms; the strategies that evolved to restrict U.S. entry into Canadian academic labor markets; changes in the movement over time, from the 1960s to the mid-1980s; and its institutionalization and outcome. Cormier's analysis is strongly theoretical and uses social-movement-organization theory in a broad contemporary perspective that encompasses concepts such as frame resonance, social networks, mobilizing structures, identity-formation, strategy and tactics, and the role of the state and public policy in movement outcomes, as well as the more traditional concepts of resource mobilization and opportunity structures. The full range of concepts is used to explain the origins of the movement, its unfolding over time, and its eventual modestly successful outcome. Cormier traces how a broad, grassroots cultural identity movement with charismatic leaders (Robin Mathews and James Steele) moved into established channels (the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association) and eventually won its victories largely through institutional pressures on the formation of public policy. This shift is a major theme of the analysis. Ultimately the institutional mechanisms of the state — regulatory policies of the Canadian federal government concerning immigration and academic labor markets — were crucial in the outcome. Canadianization attained its successes by a long march through professional associations.and disciplines; its goals narrowed or were shrunk in the process, but not lost. Cormier emphasizes that increased institutionalization did not diminish the impact of the movement, but on the contrary, contributed directly to its success. Key reforms accomplished by the movement included mandatory open advertising of academic positions to Canadians, federal guidelines to ensure efforts to fill vacancies with Canadian citizens or landed immigrants, a Canadian affirmative action policy (that grouped Canadians with women as categories to be brought into academia in larger numbers), and a strong push to develop Canadian studies and encourage research on Canadian society. In sociology and anthropology, it was possible to create legitimacy for Canadianization because it made sense to call for the study of Canadian society and Canadian cultures and to use this focus as a criterion in academic curriculum development and hiring. The reforms might have been more difficult to legitimate and initiate in a culture- and location-neutral discipline like chemistry or astrophysics. Although the standards for the first round of advertising were relaxed in 2003, the package of reforms did contribute to a much stronger presence of Canadians in academic positions and to the growth of Canadian studies. Cormier gives careful attention to the dialectic of movement and organization. His analysis includes on the one hand, the relationships between movements, movement organizations and the state; and on the other hand, relationships between movement organizations and the broad unorganized processes of identity formation and oppositional consciousness. Cormier's work is highly congruent with new developments in social movement theory, most notably the focus on the three-way linkage of movements, cultural identities, and states (exemplified in the collection of articles edited by David Meyer, Nancy Whittier, and Belinda Robnett, Social Movements: Identity, Culture, and the State, Oxford University Press, 2002). A strong point of the book is the handling of time as a key dimension in the study of social movements. Cormier provides an historical analysis in which the chronological narrative is guided by and interwoven with the conceptual/theoretical framework. Through the lens of social-movement-organization theory we can trace the unfolding of the movement in its historical context. Time as a key dimension appears both in his treatment of the historical context of events and developments (for example, the way in which the movement emerged in the context of Canadian opposition to the war in Vietnam and urban racial turmoil in the U.S.) and in his analysis of the trajectory of the movement, the internal and external events and hinges that propelled it along its course. The theoretical analysis is certainly never subordinated to the chronological narrative, while events and trends are carefully documented with archival materials and interview data. Cormier's theoretically informed case study will be of interest to several groups of readers: Canadians will obviously find the movement of considerable practical and immediate interest, and as noted above, may draw comparisons with the regulation of Canadian content in the media. In addition to its interest for Canadian readers, the research provides an excellent case study in cultural nationalism, in the formation and defense of what Benedict Anderson called imagined communities. It thereby highlights a new twist of globalization: in an earlier period, intellectual nationalism, the defense of national culture, and the effort to create barriers to the free movement of culture were usually reactionary positions. But in recent decades, in the face of relentless globalization driven by powerful economic forces and corporate actors, the protection of the local — and the national is increasingly local — has become at least ambiguous, and maybe even decidedly progressive; and such movements can be seen as defenders of cultural diversity on a global scale. Roberta Garner DePaul University, Chicago Roberta Garner (Professor and Chair, Sociology Department) has published in the area of social movements and sociological theory. Currently she is an editor and contributor to The New Chicago: A Social and Cultural Analysis (Temple University Press, projected 2005 publication date) which examines the impact of globalization on the economy, politics, culture, and social dynamics of Chicago and its metropolitan region. http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/cjscopy/reviews/canadianization.html November 2004 © CJS Online Click here to download PDF file