Canada and the United States: Alternate Realities?

ABSTRACT

The Editors of The Sociological Quarterly invited the author to reflect on how Canada and the USA may differ, particularly as the American Sociological Association is meeting in Canada in August 2017. This article argues that, while the USA and Canada are in many ways alike, the fundamental ‘social contract’, defined here as the obligation of the state to its citizens, differs in Canada from that in the USA. It also focuses on the emphasis on accommodation of cultural differences and trust in governance institutions that are strongly held dimensions of Canadian society. The analysis uses the perspective of “possessive individualism”, articulated first by Canadian political scientist C. B. MacPherson, as a guide to understand the way that individual rights versus individual responsibilities are often understood differently in the two countries.

KEYWORDS:

• cultural accommodation
• governance
• social contract
• possessive individualism

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ralph Matthews

Ralph Matthews is a former President of the Canadian Sociological Association (CSA) and former Editor of the Canadian Review of Sociology. He is a recipient of the CSA Outstanding Career Award and the UBC Killam Research Prize. The author of five books and over 100 professional papers and reports, he has also served as President of Research Committee 23 on Sociology of Science and Technology of the International Sociological Association. Born and raised in Newfoundland, he holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and is a currently Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia.