Modernization And The Institutionalization Of Differentiation: The Quebec Case

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to study the institutionalization of differentiation in the Quebec of the sixties. In order to do so a theoretical model of structural change is put forward, specific propositions are derived from it and verified through an analysis of relevant historical material. Quebec society and the modernization of its fiduciary and political subsystems constitute the empirical referent. Quebec's school reform of the sixties is viewed essentially as a process involving differentiation of religious and educational roles, collectivities and institutional norms. Building on Parsons' and Bellah's evolutionary writing as well as Rueschemeyer's exploratory essay on partial modernization, its causes and consequences we seek to situate the post-war Quebec within the framework of partial modernization and the so-called Quiet Revolution within that of a movement toward a more complete form of modernity. Partial modernization is conceptualized as the co-existence of modern and pre-modern or traditional patterns side by side within the society. A pattern is considered modern to the extent that it increases the level of rationalization of the system in question.