La cohabitation interethnique dans quatre quartiers de classes moyennes à Montréal : Deux petites leçons tirées des discours sur la diversité

The authors point out that social scientists have renewed their interest in the middle class, especially in contexts where it plays a critical role in urban processes (for example, gentrification, housing market dynamics, or the rise of right-wing political parties). However, in Quebec, and in Canada in general, they maintain that scholars have tended to overlook the middle classes, giving their attention instead to the top and bottom layers of the social hierarchy. In this article, the authors present the results of a study of interethnic relations in four middle-class neighbourhoods in the Montreal region (Ahuntsic, Vimont, NDG, and Saint Leonard). Drawing on fieldwork in the neighbourhoods that was designed to let opinions about growing local ethnocultural diversity emerge spontaneously, the authors show that while people do not always know how exactly to name this diversity, they generally hold positive attitudes towards it, along with a certain discomfort at times. They found that in everyday urban and neighborhood situations, the discourses are relatively neutral and benevolent about the presence of others in the four neighborhoods studied. The also found that the middle classes can play a role in creating and maintaining ethnoculturally diverse neighborhoods, and do not have "identity fears" as portrayed by some politicians.

Diversité urbaine

Vol. 14

no. 1

5-24

2014

fr