In this Book
- Canada the Good: A Short History of Vice since 1500
- Book
- 2014
- Published by: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
To invest in vice can be a sound financial decision, but despite the lure of healthy profits, individuals and mutual funds have been reluctant to invest in this type of stock. After all, who would take pride in supporting the tobacco industry, knowing it sells a deadly product? And what social responsibilities do investors bear with respect to compulsive gamblers who have lost so much money that suicide becomes an attractive option?
Canada the Good considers more than five hundred years of debates and regulation that have conditioned Canadians’ attitudes towards certain vices. Early European settlers implemented a Christian moral order that regulated sexual behaviour, gambling, and drinking. Later, some transgressions were diagnosed as health issues that required treatment. Those who refused the label of illness argued that behaviours formerly deemed as vices were within the range of normal human behaviour.
This historical synthesis demonstrates how moral regulation has changed over time, how it has shaped Canadians’ lives, why some debates have almost disappeared and others persist, and why some individuals and groups have felt empowered to tackle collective social issues. Against the background of the evolution of the state, the enlargement of the body politic, and mounting forays into court activism, the author illustrates the complexity over time of various forms of social regulation and the control of vice.
Chapter 1: Different Worlds, Different Values: Encounters from 1500 to 1700Marcel Martel
The first chapter looks at the encounters of two worlds: Aboriginal and Europeans. Despite missionaries’ attempts to impose the Christian regulatory order on Aboriginals, the collision of values did not prevent explorers, fur traders, and Crown representatives from entering into profitable political and economic alliances, and Aboriginals from resisting the Christian regulatory order.
Chapter 2: In the Name of God, the King, and the Settlers: Regulating Behaviors during the Colonial Era (1700-1850)
Marcel Martel
The second chapter looks at European settlers and the implementation of a Christian moral order that regulated sexual behaviour, gambling, and drinking. Although citizens generally internalized the Churches’ prescriptions, as reinforced by State institutions, some individuals and communities challenged Church regulations and State laws.
Chapter 3: Triumphs: Vices in Retreat, 1850-1920
Marcel Martel
The third chapter details the massive offensive waged by individuals and organized lobbies who pushed for laws that would constrain sexuality, restrict smoking, and prohibit drinking, drug use, and gambling. By 1920 they had made significant gains. Alcohol use was prohibited. Drugs such as opium and cocaine were made illegal, and so were gambling activities.
Chapter 4: No Longer Vices: Call Them Health Issues, 1920 to the Present
Marcel Martel
Vices came to be known by different names. Although Churches, police forces, and fellow citizens continued to condemn those who transgressed “normal” behaviours, transgressions were now often diagnosed as health issues that required treatment. At the same time, those who refused the label of illness argued that behaviours formerly deemed as vices were within the normal range of human behaviour.
Table of Contents
Additional Information
Copyright
2014