Contesting the Nation: Reasonable Accommodation in Rural Quebec

In 2007, the village of Hérouxville attracted a significant amount of media attention after adopting a controversial code of conduct for living in this municipality. This code of conduct, commonly referred to as the Hérouxville Standards, constructed the community’s collective identity in ways that were positioned against several “Others,” including women, children and (most notably) immigrants. The construction of “Us” and “Them” evident in the Standards points to ongoing contestations over the definition of nationhood in Quebec. In particular, the Standards reflect a reassertion of exclusive concepts of the nation. As such, the Standards must be read, not as an isolated case, but as part of a larger debate about national identity, immigration and multiculturalism in Quebec

Space without scales: Established/outsider relations in Hérouxville

In 1965, Norbert Elias and John Scotson published a seminal study on the dynamics of established/outsider relations. Their analysis has been criticized on several grounds, including its relative inattention to space. A number of recent studies have sought to build on Elias and Scotson's model by putting greater emphasis on space. These studies represent important interventions in the development of a relational approach to local established/outsider relations. Nonetheless, such an approach would benefit from further refinement. In particular, an Eliasian approach can be especially valuable to the study of local power relations and identity constructions if it takes into account the overlapping nature of configurations, emphasizes that individuals are simultaneously embedded in a large number of configurations, recognizes that different spatial contexts are not merely external resources to be manipulated by (local) actors, and refuses to treat conflicts that happen to play out in local contexts as purely local phenomena.En 1965, Norbert Elias et John Scotson ont publié un ouvrage dressant les bases des études sur les logiques d’exclusion. Leur analyse a fait l’objet de plusieurs critiques dont le peu d’attention accordée à la question de l’espace. En s’inspirant des travaux de Norbert Elias et de John Scotson, de nouvelles recherches ont tenté de remédier à la situation en accordant plus d’attention aux enjeux d’espace. Du coup, ces études ont grandement contribué au développement d’une sociologie relationnelle. Malgré ces importants développements, un travail important de développement conceptuel subsiste. Cet article suggère que l’approche Éliasienne peut apporter un éclairage important pour la compréhension des dynamiques locales de relations de pouvoir et de construction identitaire en prenant en considération l’importance des jeux de configurations sociales. La prise en compte des configurations sociales au sens Éliasien permet de mettre en relief le caractère simultané et parfois complexes des différents relations sociales en insistant notamment sur le caractère plus vaste des enjeux qui interpellent les acteurs et en s’éloignant d’une compréhension de ces phénomènes (dynamiques et rapports de pouvoir) comme étant le fruit de dynamiques purement locales