How are values born in a society? We commonly read that it is the work of individuals themselves, the result of an essentially personal quest, which is indisputable. It also often happens that this quest is nourished by religion and spirituality. There is also no doubt that these approaches can influence the life of a community, particularly when they draw from a common source, as was the case with the Catholic Church in Quebec. These approaches require a journey that mobilizes consciousness in its deepest aspects.
This is therefore a first path to the genesis of values, a path which is of the order of spirituality and morality. We will agree that this is an area in which the sociologist and the historian do not feel very comfortable.
It is different with a second path, that which concerns the collective dimension and challenges citizenship. Here, the sociologist and the historian work on familiar terrain, namely everything that unfolds in the social and over time.
The genesis of social myths
Here I take up my concept of myth to designate social values which can come to exert an exceptional influence, being able to lead a person to real transcendence. I call these values social not only because they are rooted in history, but also because they depend largely on social mechanisms. Indeed, behind each of these myths there is almost always a striking experience, an episode out of the ordinary which plays the role of anchor and which memory will perpetuate by constantly updating it. It is up to social groups and various institutions, including the State, to take charge of this work of memory, but it can also be based on citizen initiatives.
The episode or experience at the source of the anchoring may consist of a great misfortune, a serious trauma: a military defeat, a long experience of colonialism or racism, a flagrant injustice with lasting consequences. From these experiences will often emerge, in the more or less long term, values such as freedom, equality, solidarity, democracy and equity. These values will exert all the more influence the more difficult they are to conquer, for example against violent racist regimes, arrogant aristocracies, colonial regimes or despotic governments. In short, once freed, a nation will cultivate the values to which it aspired, but of which it was deprived.
In the opposite direction, the anchoring experience or event may consist not of a trauma, but of an exploit, a remarkable achievement whose brilliance will reverberate for a long time within posterity. We think of Greek thought, the Italian Renaissance, the France of the Enlightenment, peaceful Switzerland and others – I omit the Roman genius, too tainted by violence and barbarism.
Suffering anchors
The memory of anchorage can span the centuries, particularly when serious harm suffered has not been repaired. Thus, the Bolivians would like to regain access to the sea which was “stolen” from them by Chile at the end of the 19th century.e century. The Serbs have not given up on recovering the territory that was taken from them by the Ottomans in 1389 (this was one of the reasons for the Balkan War). Italian fascists wanted to restore the glory of Rome. We shouldn’t be surprised. Nations, in general, have long memories.
These nations are in a special situation because the update of the anchor is still pending. This is the case for many other nations. Let’s think of Ireland, Scotland, Catalonia, Flanders and many others. This is also the case for Quebec. In the minds of many of us, the authentic founding act of the nation is seen as belonging not to the past, but to the future.
Three anchors
It is easy to find three anchors (among others) in the distant or recent past of Quebec: the Defeat of 1760 (why do we always say Conquest?), the rebellions of the patriots, the domination of the Church, which ended with the 1960s. Each of these anchors generated a heritage of values, mainly freedom, equality, democracy, secularism. We often read that these values, still very much alive today, were born with the Quiet Revolution. This is an accurate, but partial, view. We also reconnected with old anchors carrying the same values.
Still on the subject of the Quiet Revolution, I add a word to recall the parallel work that could have been done by the other path mentioned above, that of the personal quest nourished by the spiritual. The work of E.-M. Meunier and J.-P. Warren have clearly demonstrated that a personalist ethic originating from French Catholicism influenced numerous actors or thinkers of the Quiet Revolution. However, there was a great convergence between the values advocated by this movement and those which took the path of updated memory.
Let’s not try to untangle this tangle, but let’s remember the essential: two paths combined their effects to produce the changes of the 1960s.
Don’t forget the memory…
We see that updating an anchor requires work on memory, whether it concerns the values to be celebrated or the remarkable people from whom we can draw inspiration. This brings us back to what we might call memory management work. Where are we on this front? Are we dealing with our past the right way? Are we asking him the right questions? Do we get the right answers from this? And are we doing enough for him to enter our lives, to speak to us in the present and the future?