When activists, advocates, victims of injustice, and ordinary citizens seek to advance (or block) social justice and cohesion, they draw on morally charged ideals. But the wellsprings of solidarity in a society as diverse as Canada are complex and mutable.

The Civil Sphere in Canada analyzes the shifting meanings we attach to key social actors, activities, and institutions to reveal the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion that animate Canadian society. Applying Jeffrey Alexander’s groundbreaking civil sphere theory to Indigenous–settler relations, media scandals, multiculturalism, urban planning, and personal relations, contributors demonstrate that transformations in shared meaning must precede legislative and institutional change. Profoundly harmful behaviours such as cultural appropriation, sexual misconduct, and even genocide may pass as routine for years before the public decides they are unacceptable breaches of civil order.

This superb collection ushers Canadian voices into a burgeoning international debate about the role of the civil sphere in effecting social justice.

Jeffrey C. Alexander's profile page

Mervyn Horgan's profile page

Jeffrey C. Alexander is the Lillian Chavenson Saden Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Yale University, founder and codirector of Yale’s Center for Cultural Sociology, and coeditor of the American Journal of Cultural Sociology. Among his numerous publications are The Civil Sphere, Civil Repair, and What Makes a Social Crisis? Mervyn Horgan is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Guelph. He has published widely on urban studies, social interaction, housing, stigmatization, cultural sociology, and social theory in journals including Social Inclusion, Journal of Intercultural Studies, Pragmatics, and the Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue Canadienne de Sociologie, as well as well as in numerous edited collections.

Contributors: Bruna Brito, Brieg Capitaine, Jean-François Côté, Laura Eramian, Zachary Hyde, Lily Ivanova, Mandy Na’zinek Jimmie, Thomas Kemple, Daniel Kudla, Fuyuki Kurasawa, Saara Liinamaa, Peter Mallory, Matt Patterson, Dean Ray, Elisabeth Rondinelli, Allyson Stokes, Galen Watts, Chris Worden