The enduring social dysfunction that confronts Canada’s Aboriginal people is a challenge that has reached crisis proportions. Aboriginal communities are preoccupied with social issues ranging from academic underachievement to substance abuse, domestic violence, welfare dependence and suicide, to health and nutrition. The avalanche of human and financial resources aimed at redressing the quality of life for First Nations people on, and off, reserves, and Inuit living in remote arctic communities seems to either be entirely misguided, or perhaps, itself exacerbates the problem. In this essay we offer a theory of social change that focuses on the role of social norms. This theory focuses on the impact of social change on the normative structure on an effectively functioning group and on normative features that may lead to constructive social change. We will suggest that such a normative analysis may explain why mainstream solutions to address social issues confronting Aboriginal communities are doomed to failure, as are, equally, the application of traditional Aboriginal interventions. As a guiding framework, we will use a folk theory in the form of “80-20” rule that is evoked every time someone in any social organization feels frustrated at the disproportionate allocation of resources within their organization.
Failing our Aboriginal Peoples: A Normative Theory of Constructive Social Change
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