Put aside the thought of the provocative title of this book, as I discuss Michael Adams", "Sex in the Snow". Like all survey research, the book itself is a collaborative effort, with three of his colleagues. Author Michael Adams, who is also President of Environics Ltd., a major Canadian polling firm, describes the book as a '"psychographic geography of Canada". Psychographics is the study of groups or market segments in the population who are defined by their values and resulting lifestyle choices. Adams hopes to describe for us fellow Canadians the psychological landscape of our country in a way that will help us understand Canadians in general. In 1989, the 3SC Social Values Monitor was brought to Canada, and is now used to track trends in the underlying social values of Canadians, Americans and Europeans. And is now used in this book to better help us understand the twelve psychographic tribes, found in three age categories: the elders (over age 50), the boomers (aged 30 to 49), and 'Generation X' (short form: GenXers, aged 15 to 29).
The daring, eye-catching title, represents more just a witty title to bring a second glance. The snow represents what is most enduring in Canadian values; the sex represents the hedonism and demand for immediate satisfaction that distinguishes the recent evolution of social and moral values in the country. The stereotype of Canadians as respectful and reserved, and now that imaginative, is fast losing its merit. The word stereotype itself, I don't think it's applicable in this new age we live in. Everything and everyone has broken free of that mold.
Throughout the whole book, Adams tries to point out that the saying, "demography is destiny", is no longer applicable to Canadians. Until recently, demography was destiny. Now, we bring forth the societal stereotypes to create new personal images and identities. On this topic, Adams states that, "Canadians are giving up on traditional religious dogma in favour of a less guilt-ridden spirituality".
