“Here, it’s polyethnic”: Framing ethnic diversity in four middle-class neighbourhoods in Montréal
During the last decade, it has become increasingly common to hear people express discomfort toward immigration in Quebec. Both political discourse and opinion polls paint a picture of a population less inclined to be open than before. However, few studies have examined how this apparent trend has shaped everyday practices, especially interethnic relations, at the neighbourhood level. We conducted research from 2011 to 2012 to probe this question, taking four middle-class neighbourhoods as our field sites. While it was inspired by other studies of the geography of encounters with difference, our research emphasized the processes and conditions under which such encounters are made possible rather than their potential effects. It thus reconnects with some of the lessons from the Chicago School of urban sociology, such as the intermediate character of the neighbourhood as a shared space, the implications of multiple commitments for social relations and the importance of participants’ framing of the situation. The findings show how individuals work to frame difference in such a way as to maintain the openness of neighbourhood space. They also demonstrate that the local social orders differ from one neighbourhood to another, but that in all of them, the middle classes still occupy a pivotal mediating role between groups, which contrasts with their current prevailing image. The study as a whole underlines the relevance of doing fieldwork as a way to investigate interethnic relations from the ground up, rather than imposing a normative view from above that focuses on discourse and values.