Editorial Notes

Abstract

Challenging the Status Quo The articles in this issue share a common dynamic: a challenge to the status quo. In the case of Andrew Sayer, the status quo of political economy itself is challenged. He argues that radical political economy has increasingly come to reflect the extent to which the lifeworld is dominated by economistic rationality. To rejuvenate its critical positioning, Sayer proposes a revival of the concept of moral economy by turning questions of economic behaviour into normative questions of validity. This means broadening analysis out from questions about how economic systems work, to questions about what they are for. From Sayer's viewpoint, values are not beyond the scope of critical inquiry and debate. In raising questions about the normative context of economic activity, Sayer positions himself alongside other contemporary arguments about the need to reintegrate the economic with social phenomenon, and to recognize, challenge and develop the moral character of economies. Kiran Mirchandani and Evangelia Tastsoglou s article tackles the concept of ''tolerance,'' its place in the construction of Canadian identity and multiculturalism, and in the continuation of a racist, homophobic status quo. Their analysis uses the reporting of "tolerance" regarding "minority groups" in Canadian news media to show the strong link between the celebration of tolerance and the acceptance of inequality and oppression. This tolerance is central to Canadian multiculturalism policies and the exclusionary construction of the Canadian "national self." Mirchandani and Tastsoglou note, however, that tolerance is constructed as limited, thus protecting the status quo. This minimalist approach to tolerance, and the policy of multiculturalism which frames it, is contrasted with integrative anti-racism. In arguing for a diversity beyond tolerance, the authors place as central the systemic character of racism and the requirement of an action orientation. The authors conclude with detailed illustrations of the major contrasts between tolerance and integrative anti-racism. The articles by Katherine Teghtsoonian and Jacinthe Michaud engage with the gendered dimensions of policy development at