The universal in the social: Universalism, universality, and universalization in C anadian political culture and public policy

This article provides a conceptual analysis of universalism, universality, and universalization in the C anadian context, important for students, activists, and practitioners of social policy for better understanding the content of debates and examining the ever‐shifting balance between universal programs and other types of social provisions. Three perspectives are evident in public opinion and political discourse in social policy making: the anti‐universalists, administrative universalists, and the active universalists. This article also identifies several kinds of universality: symbolic, tenuous, stalled, restrictive, and expansive. In a society of growing diversity, the relationship between the plural and the universal has led to theorizing about new notions of universalism. The social is a political space of multiple jurisdictions, governance relations, policies and citizen identities. The article argues that while retrenchment and austerity politics are present realities, the community values associated with universalism and the policy techniques linked with universality have not been abandoned.