Search results

THE EXISTENCE OF DISTINCT REGIONAL POLITICAL CULTURES WITHIN CANADA IS INVESTIGATED. USING A NATIONAL SAMPLE (N=2,600), SCALES MEASURING CITIZEN EFFICIENCY, TRUST IN GOVERNMENT, & POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT WERE CONSTRUCTED & TABULATED WITH LANGUAGE & PROVINCE. THEY WERE COMBINED INTO A TYPOLOGY OF 4 CITIZEN TYPES: (1) CITIZENS (TRUSTING & EFFICACIOUS), (2) DEFERENTIALS (TRUSTING BUT NOT EFFICACIOUS), (3) REBELS (EFFICACIOUS BUT NOT TRUSTING), & (4) ALIENATED (NEITHER TRUSTING NOT EFFICACIOUS). LARGE INTERPROVINCIAL VARIATIONS WERE FOUND, ESPECIALLY WITH TRUST & EFFICACY. BRITISH COLUMBIA HAD THE HIGHEST PROPORTION OF CITIZENS & REBELS, WHILE THE MARITIMES PROVINCES, & THE FRENCH-SPEAKING OUTSIDE QUEBEC, HAD THE LARGEST PROPORTIONS OF ALIENATED VOTERS. IN INVOLVEMENT, HOWEVER, THE MARITIMES RANKED HIGHER. SUCH STRIKING DIFFERENCES COULD FLOW FROM THE EXISTENCE OF DISTINCTIVE REGIONAL CULTURES, OR SIMPLY FROM THE FACT THAT THE PROVINCIAL POPULATIONS DIFFER FROM ONE ANOTHER IN SUCH SE CHARACTERISTICS AS EDUCATION, CLASS, INCOME, & UR/RU MAKEUP. A SERIES OF CONTROL VARIABLES WAS INTRODUCED TO SEE IF THESE WASHED OUT THE DIFFERENCES. IN SOME CASES, INTERREGIONAL DIFFERENCES ACTUALLY INCREASED. THE EFFECT OF CONTROL VARIABLES DIFFERED ACROSS REGIONS; IN BRITISH COLUMBIA, THE MC & THE WC DIFFERED LITTLE IN TRUST & EFFICACY, IN THE MARITIMES THEY DIFFERED SHARPLY. ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE CONFIRMED THAT BOTH REGION & THE SE FACTORS INDEPENDENTLY ACCOUNTED FOR VARIATIONS ALONG THE 3 DIMENSIONS. THE INTERPROVINCIAL DIFFERENCES IN BASIC POLITICAL ATTITUDES ARE A FUNCTION OF DIFFERENT CULTURES. VARIATIONS AMONG ENGLISH- SPEAKING PROVINCES ARE AT LEAST AS GREAT AS THE MORE COMMONLY NOTED DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ENGLISH & FRENCH-SPEAKING CANADIANS. 17 TABLES. MODIFIED AA.

The volume and variety of published works on voting in Canada suggest to us it is time to take stock of where we have been and where we should go. It is our belief that developments have not matched the rosy prognosis implicit in Donald Smiley's 1967 statement that "undoubtedly the most extensive developments in Canadian political science in the past two decades have been in the field of studies of voting behaviour and political parties." To be sure, the body of literature has expanded considerably, but we are struck by major gaps in its coverage and by certain conceptual and technical shortcomings.Traditionally review articles have treated a limited number of works in detail or have attempted an overview of an entire body of literature. We have eschewed the former approach since it presupposes the existence of a few outstanding works, comprehensive in nature, which can be fruitfully compared because of the diversity of approaches or interpretations they present. Such a situation does not yet obtain in the field of Canadian voting behaviour. The latter approach is less necessary since the recent appearance of a propositional inventory by John Terry and Richard Schultz, and a long summary chapter by Mildred Schwartz.Therefore, we propose to outline major trends in the last decade or so and to suggest new directions.