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Social Cohesion and Culture: Contrasting Some European and Canadian Approaches and Experiences
Introduction
Two conferences which tried
to clarify the interrelationship between culture and social cohesion took
different approaches, not only where the European and Canadian perspectives are
concerned, but also where Europe is divided regionally into Western and Eastern
(transitional) part. The first conference was organized by CIRCLE (Cultural
Information and Research Centres Liaison in Europe) and CCRN (Canadian Cultural
Research Network) on 26-27 May 2000 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, under the
title Making Connections: Culture and Social Cohesion
in the New Millennium. The second
one entitled New Alliances: Culture - Social Cohesion
- Civil Society, held as a follow-up CIRCLE Round Table Meeting, took place in Vienna, on 24-25 November 2000 and was co-organised by the österreichische kulturdokumentation / internationales archiv für kulturanalysen from Vienna.
The Canadian approach regards
this very issue as a central part of its cultural policy. In the basic
documents the terms 'social cohesion' and 'connectedness' are defined in the
following manner: Connectedness pertains to the ways that citizens connect to
each other and to the rest of the world through intricate networks of social,
economic, political and cultural ties (Canadian Government definition). Social
cohesion is defined as the capacity of citizens living under different social
or economic circumstances to live together in harmony, with a sense of mutual
commitment (Senate of Canada definition). Finally, culture in this Canadian
context is defined as symbolic patterns emerging from the people's ways of
living together. Evidently, the common thread running through all theses three
definitions is that they are fundamentally about relationship among people.
The European approaches are
quite different in nature. Social cohesion for most of the countries is not
central to their cultural policies. On the contrary, the notion of the term is
mainly understood in its pragmatic dimension related to issues like economic
problems and their reflection on culture and social communication, the question
of unemployment and its consequences, as well as measures related to cultural
diversity and social marginalization. This set of questions in the case of the
Eastern and Central European countries opens some dramatic and warning issues
like the possibility of overall social reconstruction in the new democracies,
the problems of overcoming potential political and regional fragmentation and
determining whether state intervention is able to fulfil the roles formerly
assumed by the communities and families.
More common approaches can be
found regarding possible responses to the overall process of globalization and
changing of dominant patterns in cultural participation. The trends are to some
degree similar as are also some practical measures in the Canadian and European
contexts. Traditional ways of participation are less present and the gap
between Europe, Canada and United States in productivity in the so-called
content industries is widening. This opens space for various types of measures:
from protective to accommodation, and to enforcing ones. In both cases, all
those three types of reaction are combined, with unpredictable results.
The following papers reflect
only some of the issues raised above. At the same time, they raise some
additional ones which are not tackled here. The interrelationship between
social cohesion and culture, because of the growing cultural and social
differences within Canadian and European societies, will undoubtedly grow in
importance. One of the evident signs of this trend is the third CIRCLE
conference, which will be organised under the title Culture,
Civil Society and Volunteerism, to
be held in Newcastle, United Kingdom, 2-4 November 2001 (see pp. 90-91 in this
issue), opening again a new angle on this ongoing international debate.
Sanjin Dragojević
Contact address:
Sanjin Dragojević
Faculty of Political Science
University of Zagreb
Lepušićeva 6
10000 Zagreb
Croatia
Tel.: 385 1 45 58 022
Fax: 385 1 46 55 316
sdragojevic@yahoo.com
Contents
- Social Cohesion and Culture: Contrasting Some European and Canadian Approaches and Experiences
by Sanjin Dragojević
- Cultural Symbiosis: Cultural Participation and Cohesive Communities
by M. Sharon Jeannotte
- Social Cohesion and Cultural Policy in The Netherlands
by Eva Brinkman and Cas Smithuijsen
- Space of Social Dialogue: Who is Speaking?
by Matko Meštrović
- Globalization, Mergers and Media Violence: What are the Links?
by Rose A. Dyson
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