An Examination of the Evolution of The Vertical Mosaic through the Lens of Whiteness Theory: Ethnic Socioeconomic Disparities Among White European Immigrants in Canada

Abstract

The idealized notion of Canadian society as classless fails to recognize the diverse experiences and inequalities faced by various groups, an image that sociologist John Porter, in fact, challenged through his ground breaking study. This Major Research Paper (MRP) focuses on the vertical mosaic debate in Canada and situates this debate within the context of Whiteness theory. The Vertical Mosaic, the 1965 book authored by Porter from which the passage quoted above was taken, analyzed how class and power dynamics produced and sustained ethnic inequality in Canada during the middle third of the twentieth century. Since the publication of John Porter’s seminal book, generations of scholarship have been published on the persistence of ethnic inequality in Canada. In this project, I examine the experiences of European immigrants amid the evolution of whiteness and racialization in Canada. I aim to critically analyze how the evolution of whiteness in Canada has influenced changes in the vertical mosaic and the socioeconomic plight of European immigrants and BIPOC groups.