Lived Fictions: Unity and Exclusion in Canadian Politics

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The idea of political unity contains its own opposite, because a political community can never guarantee the equal status of all its members. The price of belonging is an entrenche d social stratification within the political unit itself. This book explores how the desire for political unity generates a collective commitment to certain lived fictions – the citizen-state, the market economy, and so forth – that shape our understanding of political legitimacy and responsibility. Canada promises unity through democratic politics, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, a welfare state, and a multicultural approach to cultural relations. John Grant documents the historical failure of these promises, elaborating the radical institutional and intellectual changes needed to overcome our lived fictions. Show more