This dissertation addresses the problem of the setting of national conflict agendas through examining the more specific question of the presence of ethnic content on conflict agendas of capitalist societies. Factors affecting the content of national conflict agendas are first identified through an examination of the literature on national agenda setting supplemented with insights from social movement literature. From this is derived a theory which attempts to explain the presence of ethnic content on conflict agendas of capitalist societies, the major elements of which are as follows: (1) Ethnic consciousness is a class ideology, i.e. it advances the interests of the class that promotes it; (2) Different classes can further their interests through promoting ethnic consciousness under different cleavage conditions; (3) The content of an ethnic program will vary depending on the class whose interests are being promoted; (4) Different classes have different relative probabilities of mobilizing successfully to affect the society's conflict agenda. This class-specific probability will vary with such factors as whether or not the program expresses interests that conflict with those of the bourgeoisie (which affects the probability of repression) and the stage of capitalist development (which affects the relative strength of the various classes); (5) The content of the conflict agenda may not directly reflect the content of any of the above mentioned ethnic programs, but only a version modified to minimize the threat posed to bourgeois interests as a result of modified preemption. This theory is then tested by examining the agenda setting process in the Canadian province of Quebec between 1920 and 1948. A comparative analysis is conducted of nine r and omly selected organizations that attempted to mobilize support for a particular conflict agenda during this period, examining their program content, mobilization experiences and success/failure. The content analysis of the programs uses a coding system identifying the objective interests of the bourgeoisie, working class, traditional petite bourgeoisie and New Class and a set of nationalist dem and s, allowing analysis and comparison of class/ethnic content. Though this study does not provide a full test of the theory, the results do support each of the elements listed above.Ph.D.Ethnic studiesSocial structureUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/161832/1/8812942.pdf