Interethnic Cohabitation in Middle-Class Neighbourhoods in Montreal
Social scientists have renewed their interest in the middle class, especially in contexts where it plays a critical role in urban processes (for example, gentrification, housing market dynamics, or the rise of right-wing political parties). However, in Quebec, and in Canada in general, scholars have tended to overlook the middle classes, giving their attention instead to the top and bottom layers of the social hierarchy. This article demonstrates why it is worth taking a serious look at the middle classes. We present the results of a study of interethnic relations in four middle-class neighbourhoods in the Montreal region. Drawing on fieldwork in the neighbourhoods that was designed to let opinions about growing local ethnocultural diversity emerge spontaneously, we show that while people do not always know how exactly to name this diversity, they generally hold positive attitudes towards it, along with a certain discomfort at times.