Political science department begins brown bag lunch series
Photo by Kristen Stallard
February 18, 2010 12:27 PM
On Tuesday, February 16, the StFX political science department held its first in a series of brown bag lunch discussions in the Room 4001 lounge of the Physical Sciences building.
Students from all disciplines are invited to attend and encouraged to bring a lunch to the informal discussion group as it meets on a weekly basis on Tuesdays at noon.
Lasting only an hour, the talks represent an opportunity for students to openly debate contemporary issues in political science in Canada and around the world.
The discussion was facilitated by two professors of the political science department, Yvon Grenier and Lavinia Stan.
“We wanted to do this for years,” says Stan during her introductory comments, noting that she hoped for a discussion group to engage the community in contemporary issues for a long time.
Each week, the group is to choose a new theme for discussion. Background reading is not necessary to join in the conversation.
For the inaugural luncheon, students and professors debated the relevance of ideology and terms such as “left-wing” or “right-wing” to describe political affiliations today.
Starting off the dialogue, the participants discussed at what age they believe political interest is developed.
Stan believes that political socialization occurs at different times under different political contexts. Originally from Romania, she lived under Communist rule until the Soviet Union fell during her early twenties.
“If you live in the kind of political society I did, you were socialized that whatever you say in the family you don’t say outside the family. I knew that by first grade. If you’re living in less politicized society like in Canada where you don’t see the government constantly in your face, then you have more time to think and hear more positions. You’re not set in your political beliefs as early as we were,” she says.
Continuing on, the participants felt that the use of “left” and “right” to describe political affiliation is becoming outdated.
“[Today], it’s clearly not clear usage of the [proper] terminology…There is now a range of options, so almost no one ever is completely left or right. I don’t think its use is academic, it should be reserved for more popular discourse,” argues Ryan Blood, a fourth year philosophy student. Nevertheless, fourth year political science student Hilary Feltham believes that the terminology provides non-academic people with a frame of reference when evaluating political parties.
“It’s really important for people as they learn political science to help them conceptualize. It really helps to simplify things and that’s still useful to people. [Political socialization] happens for a reason. Ideology part of people’s identity.”
The group agreed that much of the confusion surrounding the use of “left” or “right” comes from the erosion of ideology in today’s political party systems.
“What ideology does is make things come together. The level of predictability then becomes very high. But most people are very incoherent [in what they believe in politically]…You really have to look at the context [of the terminology’s use]. If you look at a Canadian Liberal in France, the French will probably think they’re more center-right than centrist [as is believed in Canada],” argues Grenier.
Drawing on Stan’s experience in Communist Romania, the group discussed the differences in political civil society in Europe and North America in detail.
“Some countries are just born or become hyper politicized, like under communism or in the United States. In these countries, politics are the identity of the country, politics are actually everywhere…In Canada, you can escape politics. There are very few options here that are political,” continues Grenier.
Finally, the discussion also addressed the impact of Canada’s electoral system upon constraining alternative political views in mainstream society. The next discussion group to be held on Tuesday, February 23 between noon and 1pm in the Physical Sciences building will continue this debate. The next topic will be on options to reform the Canadian electoral system. For more information, contact professors Stan or Grenier, or email Marcy Baker, the political science department secretary, at polisci@stfx.ca.
