A frequent question in academic and non-academic research is how particular systems are formed, maintained, and potentially, changed. This dissertation explores the question above through the intersection between political economy and public policy, specifically on accumulation: how economic and social relations come to be, endure, adapt, or fail. This is reflected in a slew of theories, paradigms, and research programmes, yet most utilize a macro or meso lens and rarely look at ‘micro’ level phenomena and processes – those involving everyday interactions and people. At this level, a significant, yet absent, component is the way individuals may come to automatically think and act through receiving information conveyed in ways that promote internalization or automaticity. The ongoing question, then, is what regimes communicate and how they do so.
I will examine the role of active labour market policy (ALMP) in sustaining contemporary accumulation trajectories in Canada by analyzing what it communicates to policy recipients in terms of how they should conceive of themselves as workers, their expectations of the market, and of the state. However, what public policy communicates does not, in and of itself, explain how people come to internalize particular ways of thinking and acting. As such, I combine policy analysis with cognitive psychology to examine what ‘everyday’ public policy components – such as websites, forms, and job search systems - communicate, and crucially, whether they do so in a way which is conducive to ‘automatic thought’ (e.g. ‘common sense’). / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This dissertation explores how public policy can shape how individuals automatically think and act, thereby informing their ‘common sense’ and rational thoughts. I will examines what Canadian active labour market policy (ALMP) communicates to policy recipients in terms of how they should conceive of themselves as workers, their expectations of the market, and of the state. I combine policy analysis with mechanisms derived from cognitive psychology to examine what ‘everyday’ public policy components – such as websites, forms, and job search systems - communicate, and crucially, whether they do so in a way which is conducive to ‘automatic thought’ (e.g. ‘common sense’). This approach fills in gaps political psychology, public policy, and the political economy of regimes.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/23896 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Mitrea, Sorin Iulian |
| Contributors | McBride, Stephen, Frost, Catherine, Graefe, Peter, Political Science |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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