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Despite many claims to the contrary, Québec and Canada demonstrate the continued importance of state institutional authority, even under Neoliberalism
List of contents
Acknowledgments
Tables and Figures
Part One: Introduction
1. Globalization, Neoliberalism, and the Rasputin State
2. Legitimating State Authority in an Age of Neoliberal Globalization
Part Two: Historical Background
3. Canada: History and the Quest for National Identity
4. Québec: History and the Centrality of National Identity
Part Three: Economic Globalization, Labor Migration, and Social Integration
5. The Global Market Economy: History and Impact on Canada and Québec
6. Ethnic Diversification and Labor Migration
7. Multiculturalism, Interculturalism, and the Changing Definition of National Culture
8. The Importance of Culture in Neoliberal State-Building
Bibliography
About the author
Cory Blad Ph.D. (2006) in Sociology, University of Tennessee, is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Manhattan College. His research focuses on the nexus of neoliberalism and cultural politics with particular emphasis on the role of state institutions.
Summary
Neoliberal globalization is understood to have a corrosive effect on the state. Reductions in economic regulatory capacities combined with an ideological attack on the public necessity of social spending has left many with the impression that the state is a weakened institution, at best. This book argues that despite popular claims to the contrary, global capitalism requires state institutional authority, but the legitimation of this authority is increasingly tied to cultural rather than economic means. Canada and Québec are presented in historical comparative context as examples of how neoliberal states achieve global political economic integration while relying on cultural legitimation to maintain social policies working to mitigate social changes resulting from increased global integration.
Foreword
Features in Critical Sociology
Promotion targeting progressive Sociological Journals
Publicity and promotion in conjunction with the author's speaking engagements
Additional text
“There is so little to be said about globalization that is not cliché. Globalization, apparently, has the ability to either construct world peace, or rip the world apart. It is purported to create unimaginable wealth and equally devastating poverty. In many ways, I am taking the easy road by circumventing these metanarratives and examining an artifact of this seemingly ubiquitous and all-encompassing phenomena: The problem of so-called state decline due to globalization political ideology and systemic liberal market integration. Obviously, ‘the easy way out’ is a rough road as well.”
From the Introduction
