Social Correlates of Nationalism

Abstract

In the past two decades, numerous colonized racial-ethnic minorities within various national structures have initiated movements to achieve a larger measure of self-determination. Yet, we have little systematic information about the leaders of such internal colonies, their social background characteristics, or political goals. In this article I present data on selected social background factors and political goals of one such leadership group: native Indian leaders in Canada. My analysis identifies two patterns of social variables as influential in determining the political solutions that Indian leaders pursue in order to escape their colonial condition. The findings also indicate a high level of consensus among Canadian Indian leaders that their efforts should be directed at achieving increased self-determination.