Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Role Of The Resiliency Process In Skilled Immigrants' Job Search, Kelly Kisinger

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

For many skilled immigrants settling in Canada, the obtainment of employment is a difficult and lengthy process. The current study seeks to examine how skilled immigrants deal with the adversity of the job search by applying a process model of resiliency (King & Rothstein, 2010) to the job search of skilled immigrants. The study examined the interplay between individuals’ psychological characteristics, knowledge, and environment and their self-regulatory processes, and how those processes influenced the job search individuals performed and subsequent job search outcomes. Using a cross sectional design, 94 immigrants throughout Canada completed an online survey. The findings showed individuals’ …

Social Net-Working: Exploring The Political Economy Of The Online Social Network Industry, Craig Butosi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study explores the nascent political economy of the online social network industry. Exemplars of online social networking, Facebook and Twitter have often been understood as revolutionary New Media tools. My findings show that these social networks are taking on a logic of capitalist production and accumulation, calling into question their revolutionary character. Evidence suggests that user-generated content are now being commodified and exchanged for profit.

A critical discourse analysis of Facebook and Twitter’s privacy policy and terms-of-use reveals that these texts primarily function as work contracts rather than treatises on privacy protection. Drawing on the work of Karl Marx, …

Aesthetic Labour At The Coffee Shop: Exploring Young Workers' Perceptions Of The Service Encounter, Diana Judit Szabo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Using qualitative data gathered from in-depth interviews, this research aims to elucidate how young coffeehouse baristas experience the service encounter. As "aesthetic labourers," baristas are hypothesized to possess a certain level of embodied capital, which empowers them in their interactions with customers. However, many young interactive service workers are stopgap workers who do not intend to make careers out of their part-time jobs. How does their unique position in the labour market influence the ways in which these workers experience employment in the lower tier of the service sector? The findings suggest that age and class intersect in the coffeehouse …