READING RESPONSE 1 (week 03 material)
For this reading response, I wanted to analyze two readings regarding the vertical Mosaic by Porter
who defines the Canadian society as a mosaic of different ethnic, language, regional and religious
groups who in reality are unequal in status and power. I can clearly relate to the second reading "It's
time to redefine Canada's vertical mosaic" by targetting the weakest groups in society, as first of all
my parents were immigrants in Italy from India, and now I'm moving to Canada as an international
student and a visible minority (non-European immigrants and their children ), even if I'm European
but my parents are from India, I know that I'll be considered that and have difficulties for this. I
completely agree with this article as recent immigrants in Canada are more educated than those of
Porter's time and his analysis as stated; indeed I'm the perfect example for this case as I'm more
educated than my parents.
The issue at the moment is if these visible minorities will be able to have social mobility compared
to the European immigrants of Porter's era because in Canada there's already a huge social
stratification (the condition of the social layers, composed of individuals or groups, placed on a
scale of relative superiority or inferiority according to wealth, power and prestige) which if
affecting minorities and certain groups of the society as women, immigrants and young people, not
allowing them to redeem themselves in life by having more opportunities for success, living a better
life and leaving them in their initial condition. There're already many obstacles to social mobility
and economic advancement in Canada, and being an immigrant ( a visible minority) won't help
them. Further, there's also the need to redefine this vertical mosaic as the groups that Porter saw as
being locked into their conditions and status as Poles or Italians, now have risen to higher positions
speaking of social classes and consequently have enriched themselves.
As much as I'm concerned I think that these two readings related completely to this week's content
which is social stratification in Canada, and they show us how in the past and the present, social
stratification is an issue that causes social disparity and many problems.
For this reading response, I wanted to analyze two readings regarding the vertical Mosaic by Porter
who defines the Canadian society as a mosaic of different ethnic, language, regional and religious
groups who in reality are unequal in status and power. I can clearly relate to the second reading "It's
time to redefine Canada's vertical mosaic" by targetting the weakest groups in society, as first of all
my parents were immigrants in Italy from India, and now I'm moving to Canada as an international
student and a visible minority (non-European immigrants and their children ), even if I'm European
but my parents are from India, I know that I'll be considered that and have difficulties for this. I
completely agree with this article as recent immigrants in Canada are more educated than those of
Porter's time and his analysis as stated; indeed I'm the perfect example for this case as I'm more
educated than my parents.
The issue at the moment is if these visible minorities will be able to have social mobility compared
to the European immigrants of Porter's era because in Canada there's already a huge social
stratification (the condition of the social layers, composed of individuals or groups, placed on a
scale of relative superiority or inferiority according to wealth, power and prestige) which if
affecting minorities and certain groups of the society as women, immigrants and young people, not
allowing them to redeem themselves in life by having more opportunities for success, living a better
life and leaving them in their initial condition. There're already many obstacles to social mobility
and economic advancement in Canada, and being an immigrant ( a visible minority) won't help
them. Further, there's also the need to redefine this vertical mosaic as the groups that Porter saw as
being locked into their conditions and status as Poles or Italians, now have risen to higher positions
speaking of social classes and consequently have enriched themselves.
As much as I'm concerned I think that these two readings related completely to this week's content
which is social stratification in Canada, and they show us how in the past and the present, social
stratification is an issue that causes social disparity and many problems.
