Greenwood Press's Contributions in Ethnic Studies series focuses on
the interactions and outcomes, both positive and negative, of
people from different cultures and their often dissimilar
expectations and goals. In The Governance of Ethnic Communities,
Raymond Breton examines Chinese, German, Italian, Spanish,
Portuguese, Ukrainian, and West Indian communities in Canada, with
occasional references to the native peoples and other ethnic
communities in that country and in the United States. These groups'
respectively unique cultural and historical matrices, coupled with
their status in the dominant social structure, furnish provocative
and diverse data and serve as the bases for scholarly
generalizations. From a previously rather underdeveloped
perspective, Breton looks at the ethnic community as a stateless
political entity with political structures and political processes
for self-governance, arguing that although these groups have no
state institutions, they do have public ones. He also highlights
the processes of collective decision-making, how participation and
resources are mobilized for collective projects, the relationship
between elites and members, conflict management, and the exercise
of power in managing community affairs. The relevant community
affairs are both internal matters, such as cultural events,
educational and religious activities, or aid to new immigrants, and
external affairs, such as immigration legislation and its
implementation, civil rights, and relations with the country of
origin. The volume's eight chapters explore the origin and
structures of governance; examine some of the processes of
governance, including community leadership and the formulation of
collective goals; and inquire into the construction and maintenance
of the sociopolitical community through an investigation of
individual participation in community affairs and of the group's
collective identity. Throughout this analysis, Breton considers the
impact of environmental forces and of internal political
competition. With its orientation toward significant variables and
principles, this important study represents an excellent summary of
current research on ethnic communities in North America and will
contribute greatly to the present understanding as well as future
investigations of such groups. It will be of compelling interest to
historians, sociologists, political scientists, psychologists, and
psychiatrists, among others.
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