Impact of Ethnicity and Sex on Personal Values and Socialization Experiences of Canadian Anglophones and Francophones

This study of Canadian male and female undergraduates (88 Anglophones and 78 Francophones of matched socioeconomic status) yielded value structure data of high overall similarity across ethnolinguistic group membership and sex. Both groups ranked wisdom, a sense of accomplishment, a world of peace and beauty as most important, and a pleasant life, freedom, salvation, and social recognition as least important to them. Males placed more emphasis on a pleasant exciting life and being broadminded, while females emphasized inner harmony. Differential socialization experiences across ethnolinguistic group membership were religion, family size, parental influence on choice of studies, and parental discipline. Family closeness and patriarchal power structure were differentially perceived across sex. In general, results offered minimal support to a “two solitudes” concept in the human values area.