National frenemies: linguistic intergroup attitudes in Canada

Abstract

Intergroup sentiments have been shown to be an important determinant of social stability in multinational countries. The present study explores the present state of linguistic intergroup tensions in Canada to contribute to the understanding of outgroup attitudes among minorities and majorities. Four main findings are derived from the results of empirical analyses on survey data. (1) Cultural threat impacts outgroup attitudes in both the national minority and the national majority. (2) Education has a strong impact on feelings towards the linguistic outgroup. (3) Unexpectedly, age does not display a statistical influence on intergroup attitudes. (4) Specifically relating to Canada, intergroup feelings between Francophones and Anglophones have over the last quarter century become considerably more positive, both groups hold quite positive attitudes towards one another.

Demand without Supply: Populist Attitudes without Salient Supply-Side Factors of Populism

“…The education question ascertains respondents' highest completed level of education on an 11-point continuous scale. The mother tongue of the respondents, an important demographic variable to determine political attitudes in Canada (see Medeiros, 2019), was divided into anglophones, francophones and allophones. Recognizing the importance of populism along regional lines, the models also adjust for the five Canadian regions: the Atlantic Provinces (Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick), Quebec, Ontario, the Prairies (Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta) and British Columbia.…”

The Last Standard-Bearers of Biculturalism: A Quebec-Ontario Comparison of Cosmopolitan, National, Subnational, and Local Affiliations among Official Language Minorities

“…Evidence extends such findings to Francophone minorities outside of Quebec as well (Medeiros, 2017a). Similarly, research has shown that Anglophones in Canada may also experience cultural insecurity, which in turn leads to more negative attitudes towards Francophones (Medeiros, 2019). With regards to the study hereby presented, it can be expected that: 1) given the relative lack of institutional representation for Anglophones at the provincial level, they may experience some cultural insecurity and therefore be less inclined to identify with Quebec, and 2) Francophones in Ontario, despite their more favourable degree of institutional representation at the provincial level, remain in a somewhat fragile position considering their position as a minority across Canada (in contrast with Anglophones, who form a majority at the national level).…”

“…Closely related to the development of institutions and language policies-decisionmakers have, after all, built national and provincial policies based on their judgement that certain problems existed and were in need of a solution-perceived linguistic and cultural threat have proven to be important factors shaping intergroup attitudes, specifically attitudes towards Canada (Medeiros, 2017a;Medeiros, 2019). The linguistic divide has historically been one of the most important determinants of intergroup relations in Canada (Blais, 1991) and arguably remains so.…”

Language matters? Antecedents and political consequences of support for bilingualism in Canada and Finland

“…However, since the turn of the millennium, the salience of language on Canadian politics has arguably whined (Medeiros 2019). This decline not only coincides with the waning of the Quebec secessionist movement (see Vallée-Dubois et al 2017), but also with the end of the populist Reform Party.…”

“…Language politics escalated in the 1960s in Canada when the Francophone minority demanded greater rights for their language, provokingin turna backlash from some in the Anglophone majority who saw bilingualism as disadvantaging them (McRoberts 1997;Ullman 1986). While linguistic tensions arguably played a prominent role in Canada for several decades, language politics are no longer as pronounced as they once were (Medeiros 2019). This situation is arguably different than the one that currently exists in Finland.…”