<p>This study explores the link between class and political activism by examining the union and political participation of union activists in Alberta. Through a survey and selected in depth interviews, the study finds union activists are more politically active than average Canadians. It arrives at three core conclusions. First, union activists who possess a relational sense of class consciousness are more likely to engage in political activity. This class consciousness is formed and articulated out of lived experience, rather than intellectual understanding, and can be seen as an expression of a "culture of solidarity". Second, union activists experience a perceptible class divide separating them from middle class institutions of the political system. This divide can inhibit political participation. Union activists who cross the divide into middle class politics can be seen as "bridge builders", linking working class activists with middle class political culture. Third, unions can play an important role in fostering political activism among their members. Unions can influence the decision to act politically through concrete local action and framing the nature of union work in a class relational fashion. Recommendations for union strategies are offered, as well as suggestions for revitalizing progressive political organizations.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

Orientador: Neide Aparecida de Souza Lehfeld / Resumo: O presente estudo investiga a problemática que envolve a compreensão das representações sociais de mulheres que dedicaram dez anos de suas vidas somente ao lar e retornaram ao mercado de trabalho. A metodologia adotada foi a pesquisa qualitativa e a técnica utilizada foi a da história de vida, na qual três mulheres foram submetidas a entrevistas para a composição de suas histórias, sendo estas gravadas e, posteriormente, transcritas e analisadas. Os resultados encontrados revelaram que a mulher organiza suas representações sociais, baseada em um sistema de interpretações complexo, que envolve o meio em que vive sob o contexto do momento, no qual as representações de retorno ao trabalho transparecem-se fundamentadas em concepções do mundo público, como o mundo do trabalho, e o mundo privado, como o doméstico, ligado ao lar e à família. Estas duas concepções se entrelaçam e aparecem, respectivamente, nas histórias de vida das entrevistadas, tendo correlação com a atual transição de sociedade industrial para a pós-industrial, pela qual o Brasil está passando. / Abstract: The present study investigate the problematic that involves the understanding social representation of women who had dedicated ten years of their lives to the home and returned to the work market. The adopted methodology is the qualitative research and the used technique was the life history, in wich three womem had been submitted to interviews for the composition of their histories, being these recorded and later transcribing and analyzed. The results show that the woman organizes her social representations, based in a complex system of interpretations, that the present living environment wich the representations of return to the work are transparent and based in conceptions of the public world, as the world of the work; and the private world, as the domestic servant, to the home and the family. These two conceptions interlace and appear, respectively, in histories of life of the interviewed and have correlation with the current transition Brazil is passing, from industrial to postindustrial society. / Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:29:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2000Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:38:58Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 almeida_lp_me_fran.pdf: 1124086 bytes, checksum: 55a99efc49a2110ab6a74c401424cbee (MD5) / O presente estudo investiga a problemática que envolve a compreensão das representações sociais de mulheres que dedicaram dez anos de suas vidas somente ao lar e retornaram ao mercado de trabalho. A metodologia adotada foi a pesquisa qualitativa e a técnica utilizada foi a da história de vida, na qual três mulheres foram submetidas a entrevistas para a composição de suas histórias, sendo estas gravadas e, posteriormente, transcritas e analisadas. Os resultados encontrados revelaram que a mulher organiza suas representações sociais, baseada em um sistema de interpretações complexo, que envolve o meio em que vive sob o contexto do momento, no qual as representações de retorno ao trabalho transparecem-se fundamentadas em concepções do mundo público, como o mundo do trabalho, e o mundo privado, como o doméstico, ligado ao lar e à família. Estas duas concepções se entrelaçam e aparecem, respectivamente, nas histórias de vida das entrevistadas, tendo correlação com a atual transição de sociedade industrial para a pós-industrial, pela qual o Brasil está passando. / The present study investigate the problematic that involves the understanding social representation of women who had dedicated ten years of their lives to the home and returned to the work market. The adopted methodology is the qualitative research and the used technique was the life history, in wich three womem had been submitted to interviews for the composition of their histories, being these recorded and later transcribing and analyzed. The results show that the woman organizes her social representations, based in a complex system of interpretations, that the present living environment wich the representations of return to the work are transparent and based in conceptions of the public world, as the world of the work; and the private world, as the domestic servant, to the home and the family. These two conceptions interlace and appear, respectively, in histories of life of the interviewed and have correlation with the current transition Brazil is passing, from industrial to postindustrial society.

<p>Union participation is an integral part of almost every union. This thesis studies the dimensions of participation in local union activities. The study is based on a survey that was conducted at the Hamilton-Wentworth Elementary Teachers Local. The study looks at participation trends within this union, looking at variables such meeting attendance, voting behaviours, and social event attendance, among others. This study finds that participation in this union is relatively high compared to many unions in comparable studies. It also finds that gender was not a barrier to participation. Women in this union participated at a higher level than men. The study also outlines how union structure issues as well as leadership issues affect participation of the union members. This paper outlines why participation is important to this particular union, as well as why participation is important to unions in general.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>This dissertation analyses the issues concerning strategies for improving the working and living conditions of migrant farmworkers in the United States and Canada. By comparing the tripartite and sharecropping models in commercial agriculture, it is demonstrated that unionisation and three-way collective bargaining are efficient and proven techniques for increasing workplace standards for migrant farmworkers. The tripartitc model separates agriculture into three discernable actors: food corporations, growers and farmworkers. While some agricultural sectors are dominated by corporate entities which combine both production and processing operations, other sectors such as cucumbers and tomatoes are characterised by large processing corporations which are supplied by commercial growers. Without the presence of food corporations in collective bargaining, many growers are unable to provide for better working conditions for migrant farmworkers. The Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) has significantly established the only tripartite labour relations framework in North American agriculture. FLOC has used commercial boycotts for more than two decades, in order to pressure food corporations to participate in collective bargaining with migrant farmworkers. The union is presently conducting a national boycott of the Mt. Olive Pickle Company in North Carolina, a campaign which aims to bring the company to the bargaining table and to put an end to the sharecropping model in the state's cucumber industry.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>As global politics realized a fundamental realignment with the end of the Second World War, the Canadian state desired the formation of a national consensus over its newly developed Cold War policies. It set about this task through the use of anti-communist rhetoric to facilitate a repressive and intolerant atmosphere where dissent of state policies could be identified as subversive and dangerous. In promulgating this Cold War ideology, Ottawa was wary of the illiberal approach that characterized American McCarthyism. Rather, Ottawa adopted a strategy of "privatizing" its anti-communism through the use of extra-state actors. By "farming" out its repressive activities, Ottawa could portray itself as a neutral defender of liberal values, while at the same time facilitating a climate of repression that would further its policy aims. Attendant to this, the extra-state actors used this state facilitated framework in order to advance their own interests and agendas. This strategy was starkly illustrated by the USWA raids against IUMMSW Local 598 in 1962. The interests of the state, the Catholic Church, CLC, and USWA coalesced around the elimination of Mine Mill local 598 as a representative of miners in northern Ontario. The Catholic Church sought the elimination of a progressive secularizing force in the Sudbury community that threatened the Church's institutional reproduction. For Steel, the acquisition of over 17,000 dues-paying members and the elimination of IUMMSW as a competitor in the membership rich northern Ontario mining communities. While the state prospered from the virulent anti-communist environment and the elimination of a potentially militant union from control over the largest source of nickel in the non-Communist world. Thus the boundaries demarcating the state from civil society are less clear than some would have us believe. The USW A/Mine Mill events illustrate the nuance in the relationship between the state and private actors in the mobilization of ideological hegemony.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

In this thesis I analyze semi-structured interviews I conducted with fifteen young French and American business students and professionals in order to uncover cultural models relating to work, while paying particular attention to the acceptance or rejection of neoliberal ideas. To contextualize the analysis, I first review the history of neoliberal ideology along with its arrival and political and institutional influence in both countries. In the U.S., the neoliberal transition was rapid and dramatic under the Reagan administration, which constitutes a critical institutional juncture and a shift in the dominant paradigm of governance. In France, in contrast, neoliberal policies have been implemented reluctantly and incrementally, suggesting traditional French values relating to the state and its role in regulating the economy remain largely intact. In line with these historical patterns, the Americans I spoke to primarily conceptualize work as a commodity, accepting the definition of work as defined in the market; while the French interviewees conceptualize work as personal fulfillment and occupational citizenship, emphasizing the human and psychological essence of work and the need for moral regulation of the market economy, perceived as immoral and anarchic. Overall, the Americans much more readily accepted neoliberal ideas and policy directives and towards which the French were far less welcoming. In particular, I argue that the traditional role of the French state as responsible for the wellbeing of its citizens presents a major obstacle to neoliberal ideology, historically on an institutional level as well as in the minds of the French interviewees.

<p>Social work is a social phenomenon, existing in most societies, that has given rise to a multitude of special organizations and professions. For that reason social work is dealing with a complex identity. The purpose of this study is to illustrate how social workers and the scientific discourse interpret the concept of social work. In addition to that the study intends to show similarities and differencies. The research process containes two studies, one based on qualitative interviews with five social workers and the other consisting a surway of academic litterature. To enable a comparison of the results the studies start out of some, deliberatly choosen, themes. These are “definitions of social work”, “socialworkers”, “society, law and organization” and “ethics”.</p><p>In summary, the results, reviled a surprising unity in the interpretations of social work. Social workers, as well as the scientific discourse, manifest social work as a profession that promotes social change and problem solving in human relationships. The differencies concern social work beeing interpret normative by the social workers and more descriptive by the scientific discourse.</p>

Social work is a social phenomenon, existing in most societies, that has given rise to a multitude of special organizations and professions. For that reason social work is dealing with a complex identity. The purpose of this study is to illustrate how social workers and the scientific discourse interpret the concept of social work. In addition to that the study intends to show similarities and differencies. The research process containes two studies, one based on qualitative interviews with five social workers and the other consisting a surway of academic litterature. To enable a comparison of the results the studies start out of some, deliberatly choosen, themes. These are “definitions of social work”, “socialworkers”, “society, law and organization” and “ethics”. In summary, the results, reviled a surprising unity in the interpretations of social work. Social workers, as well as the scientific discourse, manifest social work as a profession that promotes social change and problem solving in human relationships. The differencies concern social work beeing interpret normative by the social workers and more descriptive by the scientific discourse.

The thesis deals with the problems of a young adult human being's self-concept from the psychological point of view. The influence of the social elements on the start in an adult life can be observed through individualism, consumerism and quality of life, which all affect the two most important parts of life ? the work and human relations. The main part of the thesis focuses on the self-concept issues of a young adult in correlation to the (dis)satisfaction in the social roles as all the roles include various expectations. The dissatisfaction can be caused by preferring the ideal "myself" which is not in accordance with the actual requirements of the social environment. This can have a negative impact on the self-concept and individual's functioning within the community and society. The individual turns his attention to the social worker when having self-concept problems that might result in mental difficulties. The theoretical starting points are applied to some particular areas of the social work (social work with the young adults, social work with families, marital and family consultancy).