Canadian Identity and Ethnic Subcultures - Pearson Canada

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Chapter 15 Canadian Identity and Ethnic Subcultures ETHNIC SUBCULTURES AND CONSUMER IDENTITY “New” Canadians have much in common with members of other ethnic groups who live in Canada. They observe the same national holidays, their expenditures are affected by the country’s economic health, and they may join together in rooting for Canadian Olympians. Nonetheless, although Canadian citizenship provides the raw material for some consumption decisions, other decisions are affected profoundly by enormous variations in the social fabric of Canada. This chapter begins with general concepts related to ethnicity and consumer behaviour and an overview of the ethnic diversity of the Canadian population. It continues with a look at French Canadians as an ethnic group with a long-standing presence in Canada. Chinese Canadians and the relatively recent wave of Hong Kong immigrants provide an example of acculturation processes as they relate to consumer behaviour. (Although this chapter addresses only two ethnic subcultures, the omission of other groups should not be taken to mean that they are not of interest or importance. Canada is a mosaic of hundreds of diverse and interesting subcultures.) The analysis then proceeds to a regional level. The chapter concludes with an examination of how Canadian identity is manifested in consumer behaviour. Ethnic identity is often a significant component of a consumer’s self-concept. An ethnic subculture is a self-perpetuating group of consumers who share common cultural or genetic ties which are recognized by both its members and others as a distinct category. 1 In some countries, such as Japan, ethnicity is almost synonymous with the dominant culture, because most citizens claim the same homogeneous cultural ties (although Japan has sizable minority populations, most notably people of Korean ancestry). In a heterogeneous society such as Canada, many different cultures are represented, and some consumers may expend much effort to keep their ethnic identifications from being submerged into the mainstream dominant culture. Insights into the definition of ethnicity can be gained from a comprehensive study of the issues related to the measurement of English- and French-Canadian ethnicity that was conducted by a group of researchers at Concordia University. In addition to a self-identification measure, ethnic identity was measured by language use in various social communication settings, religious beliefs, social interaction, upbringing/background, and spouse’s ethnic identity. The study suggests that the best measure of ethnicity is language use and the weakest measure is religion. However, language may not be the most salient dimension of a particular subcultural group; for example, Jewish ethnicity may be better defined by religious beliefs. The situation is complicated further when one considers that the 2006 census showed that 52 percent of Montrealers (1.9 million) are bilingual; in fact, Montreal has the
458 SECTION 4 Consumers and Subcultures Air Canada recognizes that the Canadian population is a cultural mosaic. Courtesy of Air Canada and the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation. This advertisement is directed at consumers who usually eat ethnic food at restaurants. Courtesy of C.B. Powell Ltd.
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Canadian Identity and Ethnic Subcultures - Pearson Canada

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