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Full-Text Articles in Social Work
Next Steps On The Road To Basic Income In Canada, James Mulvale, Sid Frankel
Next Steps On The Road To Basic Income In Canada, James Mulvale, Sid Frankel
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
Canada has had recurring debates about guaranteed or basic income over several decades. This article outlines reasons for implementing basic income in the Canadian context—reducing poverty and inequality, addressing precarious employment, and building an ecologically sustainable economy. Recently there has been a strong renewal of interest in basic income in Canada. Expressions of interest have come from the Liberal federal government elected in 2015, from provincial governments, from political parties not in power, and from municipal governments. Support for basic income also is found in a growing range of prominent individuals and organizations. While basic income advocates are encouraged by …
Building Their Readiness For Economic "Freedom": The New Poor Law And Emancipation, Anne O'Connell
Building Their Readiness For Economic "Freedom": The New Poor Law And Emancipation, Anne O'Connell
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
Contemporary studies that track the new racialization of poverty in Canada require an historical account. The history we invoke in North America is often borrowed from the British poor laws, a literature that is severed from its counterpart: the histories of racial slavery, racial thinking, White bourgeois power and the making of White settler societies. The effects of severing the history of poor relief from racial classifications and racism(s) are far reaching. Systems of oppression come to be seen as separate structures in which the New Poor Law appears as a domestic policy in Britain unrelated to racial thinking and …
Globalization, Precarious Work, And The Food Bank, Ernie S. Lightman, Andrew Mitchell, Dean Herd
Globalization, Precarious Work, And The Food Bank, Ernie S. Lightman, Andrew Mitchell, Dean Herd
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
This paper explores whether people are better off working in the precarious employment associated with a neoliberal globalized economy. Firstly, we show the impacts of globalization on the composition of food bank users in Toronto, Canada. We then compare two groups offood bank users, one with at least one household member working, the other without. Our findings demonstrate that the life experiences of the two groups remain depressingly similar: those employed remained mired in poverty and continued to lead marginalized, precarious lives. The lack of investment in education or training characteristic of 'work-first' welfare reforms leads to unstable, low-paid work …
Workfare In Toronto: More Of The Same?, Ernie Lightman, Andrew Mitchell, Dean Herd
Workfare In Toronto: More Of The Same?, Ernie Lightman, Andrew Mitchell, Dean Herd
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
This paper uses a recent survey of welfare leavers in Toronto to examine Workfare, a uniquely American initiative introduced into Canada, with its different welfare state history and traditions. When classic American workfare was imported by an enthusiastic government in Ontario, its application led to employment outcomes remarkably similar to those in the US (reduced caseloads, insecure and contingent employment, high recidivism). Yet, Canada's earlier commitment to community and collective responsibility have not been entirely subsumed below the overarching American umbrella. Welfare programs in Canada-specifically, workfare-reflect both the difficulties of maintaining great difference, and also the possibilities of following an …