Donald M. Taylor

McGill University

The most important government policies are those that focus on the manner in which people relate to one another. Nowhere are such policies more critical than the manner in which "mainstream" Canadians, established ethnic groups, aboriginal peoples, and newcomers to Canada, be they immigrants or refugees, mutually accommodate one another.

The challenge to this mutual accommodation process arises from dramatic new demographic realities that raise delicate issues, but issues that must be confronted openly and directly. Prior to the mid 70's, Canada received large numbers of newcomers. However, these newcomers were people whose racial, ethnic and religious heritage was in the same proportion to the mix of mainstream Canadians. With policy changes in the mid 70's, designed to remove a legacy of discrimination based on country of origin, Canada began to receive newcomers whose appearance and cultural background were visibly different. The reality is that whereas in 1970 the number of visible minority newcomers represented %, the percentage in 1994 was 80%.

The challenge from a policy perspective, then, is how to manage this diversity in such a way that the mix of cultures becomes one that produces a richer, more flexible social fabric, precisely because of its cultural diversity, rather than a social fabric that is frayed at the edges and ripped at the seams.

The discipline of social psychology is uniquely positioned to address this challenge. The dimensions of social psychology that relate to issues of human diversity, and that complement other disciplinary contributions, include its role within psychology in general, its methodological orientation, and its specific treatment of issues related to human diversity generally and immigration in particular.

First, in terms of its mandate, social psychology is that branch of psychology that bridges the individual and society. It focuses squarely on the individual, but attempts to understand how the individual influences, and is influenced by, the social environment. In terms of immigration, then, social psychology offers a perspective that addresses not only relations among social groups but the implications for the individuals who comprise the different groups. As such, processes that form the core for all of psychology as a discipline are central to social psychology, including human cognition, emotion and motivation.

Methodologically, social psychology is centrally located. On the one hand it is compatible with psychology as a whole with its emphasis on controlled laboratory research. On the other hand, because of its social focus, it is constantly devising ways to apply the rigors of experimental design to real social settings. The present monograph will emphasize research on immigration that meets the methodological rigors of the discipline.

Finally, the topic of immigration per se has been understudied by mainstream social psychology. The large number of entries arising from systematic searches of the literature are misleading. Most of the entries appear in either specialty journals or ones that are only marginally social psychological in their emphasis. Found only infrequently are references to immigration in prestigious, mainstream social psychology journals. Thus, one of the aims of the present review will be to integrate important social psychological theories and concepts that have been applied to a variety of social contexts other than immigration into issues associated with cultural diversity.

Despite the relative paucity of mainstream applications of social psychology to immigration, the one country that boasts a small cadre of mainstream social psychologists who have addressed the issue of cultural diversity, is Canada. This internationally respected expertise arises first because of the unique bilingual and bicultural basis of Canadian identity, and, second, because of Canada's historical preoccupation with multiculturalism. The result is that there is a research tradition in the social psychology of cultural diversity, and one that is uniquely Canadian.

The proposed monograph will comprise four substantial chapters in addition to an introduction and conclusion. Chapter 2 will focus on the mutual accommodation process. It will explore how mainstream Canadians and newcomers view the process of integration and acculturation. The chapter will attempt to determine the extent to which mainstream Canadians and newcomers share the same vision or template with respect to how diversity with justice and harmony can and should be achieved. In so doing the chapter will explore the extent to which attitudes toward acculturation are consistent across a variety of domains including the home, community, workplace, school and public institutions.

While the focus of Chapter 2 is on both mainstream Canadians and newcomers, Chapter 3 will be concerned with the attitudes of mainstream Canadians. The emphasis will be on mainstream Canadians' attitudes toward specific subgroups of immigrants, immigrants in general, and immigration policy. The chapter will pay particular attention to the reality that Canada is comprised of two founding mainstream groups, Francophones and Anglophones. Their attitudes toward each other and each group's unique history may shape their attitudes toward newcomers.

Chapter 4 will analyze attitudes from the point of view of newcomers to Canada. Central to this chapter will be an appreciation of the attitude of newcomers toward mainstream Canadians as well as the potential prejudice and discrimination that newcomers may confront.

In Chapter 5 the issues raised in Chapters 2 through 4 will be applied to the one social unit that is central to the integration experience, the family. Two specific dimensions of the family will be emphasized, gender issues and generational conflicts. These two dimensions present persistent social difficulties that arise out of the integration process.

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