ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a better understanding of the major “significant others” of modern Quebec (1960–), the context of their emergence, and the challenges and hopes they bear. What concepts are frequently used to account for the historical and contemporary situation of Quebec, in its fundamental articulations, that is, as a global society, as a type of society? Obviously, this is not a zero-sum game, where ideal-typical characterisations of Quebec would chase each other. Each concept offers a heuristic point of view on Quebec society, illuminating certain aspects of it. The choice of the frames is also a question of interest of knowledge, and it is fortunate that the kaleidoscopic plurality is in order. Nevertheless, we will see two interrelated tendencies at work: a recurrence of the characterisation of Quebec as a “small nation” and the equally recurrent tendency to “normalise” Quebec society (decolonised society, American society, globalised society). In so doing, we will better understand the issues and challenges specific to small nations, as well as their complicated relationship to the standards of “normality” of modern societies.
