Today marks 150 years since Canadian Confederation. For some Canadians, our 150th is a historic opportunity to celebrate our national pride. For others, celebrating Canada’s 150th conjures mixed feelings, or is anathema, due to some of the uglier aspects of our history–especially those related to the mistreatment of First Nations–or to areas in which we…
I understand that many of us feel hurt, scared and angry. This is especially true for the many among my friends and family who are religious minorities, racial minorities, LGBTQ+, or women: people who have felt personally targeted by Trump’s words, actions, and those of some of his supporters. I understand that the natural reaction…
In polls, an overwhelming majority of people say that they support equal opportunity. An overwhelming majority of people also say that they oppose estate taxes–taxes on inheritance–of any amount. These two sentiments are logically incompatible, at least in their strictest senses. Why the inconsistency? A cynic might chalk it up to people being insincere in their beliefs in equal opportunity,…
–Jared Milne– Recently there have been harsh criticisms levied against past–and often celebrated–figures in Canadian history, particularly Prime Ministers like John A. Macdonald and Wilfrid Laurier. Critics have pointed out the way past historians often ignored or downplayed the negative aspects of their legacies, such as the “head tax” on Chinese immigrants, the discrimination against…
This article is part of a Discussion on inclusivity, free speech, and identity politics. This is also the first in a new series of posts on the science of social justice. You can follow and/or comment on the series here and on Twitter using the hashtag #SJScience. The purpose of the series will be to scientifically examine solutions to common political,…
This article is part of a Discussion on inclusivity, free speech, and identity politics. Like Matt, I am drawn to approach the politically charged topic of social justice, inclusivity and identity politics by asking what approaches to achieving greater equity, peace and prosperity are the most effective. My hope is that focusing on effectiveness will allow me to…
In light of recent incidents at Yale (see competing perspectives here and here) and University of Missouri and in the context of the broader ongoing dialogue on how to balance sensitivity, inclusivity and free speech concerns (e.g. Charlie Hebdo and censored campus speakers), and on the intersections between social justice and identity politics (e.g. affirmative action, balancing…
Is there such a thing as too little corruption or too much anti-corruption? High levels of transparency and low levels of corruption in government and the private sector are critical to the stability of a democratic society. Even the appearance of corruption is known to erode public trust and social cohesion. As a result, populist…
A paper recently came out in Comparative Sociology arguing that certain segments of Western society (college campuses, the blogosphere) may be experiencing the rise of a new type of moral culture (which they call ‘victimhood culture’) – one that has begun to compete with the previous dominant moral culture (one they call ‘dignity culture’) in our broader…
The Tête-à-Tête 