FR:
Réfléchir à la situation des anglophones au Québec conduit souvent à l’une des trois caractérisations suivantes : ils ont été des oppresseurs en occupant les positions dominantes dans l’économie de la province; ils ont été et restent (métaphoriquement parlant) une cinquième colonne augmentant la force d’attraction de l’anglais, auprès des immigrants; ou encore, ils sont devenus des victimes par les politiques gouvernementales (qui limitent leur accès) aux institutions anglophones et par leur absence marquée parmi les employés de la fonction publique. Quels que soient les éléments qui alimentent ces caractérisations, chacune comporte un risque de caricature. Aussi, plutôt que de se concentrer sur des enjeux de type général, comme le sont ces caractérisations les articles de ce numéro offrent une analyse de la manière dont les anglophones vivent au quotidien avec leur lot de réussites et d’échecs. Ils pourront ainsi servir de contrepoids à la tendance à généraliser qu’on trouve dans les écrits sur cette population.
EN:
Discussion of the situation of anglophones in Quebec tends to involve one of the following three characterizations: they have been oppressors, first conquerors then occupiers of the dominant positions in the provincial economy; they have been and are a fifth column (metaphorically speaking), increasing the likelihood that immigrants will adopt English, the dominant language of North America, rather than French; or, they have become victims, with access to both English-language institutions and government jobs limited by government policy. A case can be made that, while something can be said for each these characterizations, each also risks turning into caricature. Most anglophones did not occupy dominant positions in the economy in the past, let alone the present. The contribution of Quebec anglophones to inducing immigrants to adopt English as their language of use is probably smaller than that of Hollywood; besides the population has undergone substantial shrinkage over the last decades. And evidence suggests that, whatever grievances its members might have, a significant proportion has higher than average incomes and, by failing to out-migrate, a majority demonstrate that continuing to live in Quebec is more appealing than the alternatives. Rather than addressing these large questions the papers in this issue of Recherches sociographiques deal with anglophones getting on with their lives and the problems and opportunities associated with that. They may serve as a useful corrective for a tendency to overgeneralization in much of the writing on the subject.