REGIONAL POLITICAL CULTURES IN CANADA
In: Canadian journal of political science: CJPS = Revue canadienne de science politique : RCSP, Band 7, Heft 3, S. 397-437
ISSN: 0008-4239
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.