Social Classes and Social Credit in AlbertaFor years scholars have maintained that Social Credit was a protest on the part of small-scale farmers, who fought against their disadvantaged position in advanced capitalism by rejecting central Canada's control of the prairie region. The protest is usually described as conservative and its supporters portrayed as small agrarian capitalists who combined their opposition to regional exploitation with a firm commitment to capitalism. Based on a review of census materials on occupations, election results, and the party's statements and appeals, Bell reveals that this traditional interpretation is misguided on several counts. He provides a greatly revised picture of the movement's popular class base and its goals and motives, and shows that it was far more radical than commonly believed. The theory of social movements Bell draws from this analysis is applicable not only to Social Credit but to social movements in general. Social Classes and Social Credit in Alberta will be of particular interest to sociologists, political scientists, and historians concerned with Canadian social movements and elections and the political history of the Great Depression. |
Contents
A Brief History of Alberta to 1935 | 8 |
The Douglas Social Credit Philosophy | 37 |
The Alberta Social Credit Philosophy | 61 |
Cities Towns and Countryside | 86 |
Social Credit in Power | 107 |
Cities Towns and Countryside | 129 |
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Common terms and phrases
1935 Provincial Election advance poll Alberta credit Alberta Social Credit analysis banks bourgeois C.H. Douglas Calgary Canada candidate capitalism capitalist cent Social Credit central Canadian chapter claimed class basis class level class structure conservative Credit in Alberta Democracy in Alberta dividends Douglas's economic Edmonton farm farmers favour federal implement included industrial interests issue labour legislation Lethbridge Lethbridge Herald level of support Liberal lower middle class Macpherson Major Douglas Medicine Medicine Hat ment monetary reform organization payments percentage points petit-bourgeois petite bourgeoisie political polling subdivision position prairie R.B. Bennett regional S.D. Clark small towns Social Credit Board Social Credit doctrine Social Credit movement Social Credit Party Social Credit philosophy Social Credit support Social Credit system Social Credit vote social movements socialist society support for Social theory tion urban voters wages William Aberhart work-force working-class areas working-class districts