Sociology Commons^™

No. 18: The Draft Protocol On The Facilitation Of Movement Of Persons In Sadc: Implications For State Parties, Vincent Williams, Lizzie Carr

Southern African Migration Programme

The migration of persons across international boundaries in search of better opportunities or as a result of war, conflict and political instability has risen substantially over the years. The UN Population Division estimates that there are currently 175 million people living outside of their country of origin which is more than twice the number a generation ago (United Nations Population Division 2002). As communications and transport infrastructure become more sophisticated and cheaper, this trend is likely to continue in the foreseeable future.

This movement of persons from their own countries of nationality or citizenship, to another country where they take …

No. 2: The Brain Drain Of Health Professionals From Sub-Saharan Africa To Canada, Ronald Labonte, Corinne Packer, Nathan Klassen, Arminee Kazanjian, Lars Apland, Justina Adalikwu, Jonathan Crush, Tom Mcintosh, Ted Schrecker, Joelle Walker, David Zakus

Southern African Migration Programme

Significant numbers of African-trained health workers migrate every year to developed countries including Canada. They leave severely crippled health systems in a region where life expectancy is only 50 years of age, 16 per cent of children die before their fifth birthday and the HIV/AIDS crisis continues to burgeon. The population of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) totals over 660 million, with a ratio of fewer than 13 physicians per 100,000.

SSA has seen a resurgence of various diseases that were thought to be receding, while public health systems remain inadequately staffed. According to one report, the region needs approximately 700,000 physicians …

Political Will As A Determinant Of Health In Ontario: Implications For Progressive Human Services, M. Anthony Hutchinson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The social determinants of health (SDOH) are the broad range of societal factors such as income and its distribution, education and literacy, (un)employment, health care, and so on, that contribute to the overall (aggregate) health, well-being and quality of life of our society as a whole (vis-a-vis, population health). Central questions in this thesis are: "Is political will a determinant of health?" and if so, "How is political will a determinant of health?" In responding to these questions this study analyzes a never-before-assembled Province of Ontario data set (1980 through 2000) rigourously operationalized as ten indicators of political will and …

Attachment Representations In Mothers Of Young Children With Developmental Delay: Relations With Concurrent And Later Maternal Depression, Mary Catherine Hutchinson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Despite the importance of early parent-child attachment and maternal depression to child development and the vulnerability of children with developmental delay, maternal attachment representations and their relation to depression have not been studied in this population. In this study, I examined attachment representations (i.e., internal working models) in 47 mothers of 4- to 8-year-old children with developmental delay and explored the relation between these attachment representations and maternal depression assessed concurrently and again one and two years later. The Working Model of the Child Interview (WMCI) was used to classify representations as balanced (i.e., secure) or non-balanced (i.e., disengaged or …

Embracing An Emerging Structure: The Employment Of Psychiatric Survivors In Ontario Community Mental Health Organizations, Jillian Gail Grant

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation discusses a mixed methods research project exploring the patterns of participation in Ontario community mental health services of those who have utilized the mental health system and exploring the characteristics of two Ontario organizations that have high levels of psychiatric survivor participation, particularly in employment. Framed by structuration theory (Giddens, 1984, 1993) and Foucault's (1969/2002, 1980a, 1980b, 1994d) formulations of power/knowledge, this study occurred in two phases. Starting with a survey of community mental health organizations in Ontario, I explored the extent to which psychiatric survivors participate in organizations. Participation was found in this order of prevalence: planning, …

A Narrative Approach To The Evaluation Of Supportive Housing: Stories Of Homeless People Who Have Experienced Serious Mental Illness, Geoffrey Nelson, Juanne Nancarrow Clarke, Angela Febbraro, Maria Hatzipantelis

Psychology Faculty Publications

We present the findings of a narrative approach to the evaluation of supportive housing for formerly homeless people who have experienced serious mental illness. According to the accounts of 11 men and 9 women, their youth and adult years were piled with personal problems, troubled relationships, and a lack of adequate social resources. Since entering supportive housing, participants noted more stability in their lives and the beginning of journeys to recover positive personal identities, restore or develop new supportive relationships, and reclaim resources vital to leading lives with dignity and meaning. The findings add to the literature on housing interventions …

Providing For The Priceless Student: Ideologies Of Choice In An Emerging Educational Market, Scott Davies, Linda Quirke

Sociology Faculty Publications

The growing popularity of school choice is typically linked to the spread of neoliberal ideology. Identifying four components of this ideology, we examine the rationales of providers in an emerging private school market. Data come from interviews and site visits at 45 “third-sector” private schools in Toronto, Canada. We find that only one of the four components has a strong resonance among these educators. Few private school operators sharply criticize public schools, compete via quantitative performance indicators, or are strongly business oriented. However, they voice a philosophy of matching their personal talents to the needs of “unique” children. Overall, rather …

A Study Of Three Community And School-Based Models Of Child Welfare Service Delivery In Ontario: An Exploration Of Parents’, Service Providers’, And Community Experiences, Karen Frensch, Gary Cameron, Lirondel Hazineh

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

This report highlights results from our study of three innovative child welfare programs in Ontario attempting to modify front line child protection practice. These programs endeavor to deliver child welfare services in ways that promote greater accessibility and acceptability of services for families, provide increased levels of assistance to families, afford a better understanding of daily living circumstances of children and families, and engage the community in protecting children. Study results confirm that the three programs were successful in accomplishing these goals. Parents’, service providers’, and community members’ perceptions of these programs showcase the positive helping relationships and community partnerships …

The Children’S Aid Society Of Brant: A Community-Based Model Of Child Welfare Service Delivery (Full Report), Karen Frensch, Gary Cameron, Lirondel Hazineh

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

No abstract provided.

Family & Children’S Services Of Guelph And Wellington County: A Community-Based Model Of Child Welfare Service Delivery (Summary Report), Lirondel Hazineh, Gary Cameron, Karen Frensch

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

No abstract provided.

Children’S Aid Society Of Halton: A School-Based Model Of Child Welfare Service Delivery, Gary Cameron, Lirondel Hazineh, Karen Frensch

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

No abstract provided.

Family & Children’S Services Of Guelph And Wellington County: A Community-Based Model Of Child Welfare Service Delivery (Full Report), Lirondel Hazineh, Gary Cameron, Karen Frensch

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

No abstract provided.

The Children’S Aid Society Of Brant: A Community-Based Model Of Child Welfare Service Delivery (Summary Report), Karen Frensch, Gary Cameron, Lirondel Hazineh

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

No abstract provided.

Vol. 6, No. 2: Harmonisation Of Migration Policies In Sadc States, Vincent Williams, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

No abstract provided.

Vol 6, No. 1: Brain Drain, ‘Major Crisis’ For Southern Africa, Vincent Williams, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

No abstract provided.

No. 15: Migration, Urbanisation And Sustainable Livelihoods In South Africa, Loren Landau

Southern African Migration Programme

Crises present both opportunities and dangers. When facing turmoil in the 1980s, South Africa embraced an aggressive agenda of social, economic, and political transformation. The results are imperfect, but few question the underlying wisdom of this approach. Many of the country’s local and provincial governments now feel they are facing new crises. On one hand, they are empowered to create inclusive, secure, and prosperous cities. On the other, HIV/AIDS and an apparent influx of ‘surplus’ people from around the country and the continent presents the possibility of further economic and political fragmentation (see Tomlinson, et al, 2003; xiii; Landau and …

No. 40: Migration And Domestic Workers: Worlds Of Work, Health And Mobility In Johannesburg, Sally Pederby, Natalya Dinat

Southern African Migration Programme

South Africa is in the middle of a well-documented HIV/AIDS epidemic. Infection rates were calculated to be 22% of the adult population in 2003. A number of different reasons have been advanced to explain the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa. They include poverty and economic marginalization; differing strains of HIV; and high rates of sexually transmitted diseases. However, migration patterns in Southern Africa have also been identified as one of the keys to understanding the high rates of infection in the region. Male migrants have been the focus of research on the relationship between HIV and migration. In the same …

No. 42: States Of Vulnerability: The Future Brain Drain Of Talent To South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Eugene Campbell, Thuso Green, Selma Nangulah, Hamilton Simelane

Southern African Migration Programme

This publication presents the results of SAMP’s 2003 Potential Skills Base survey (PSBS) in four SADC countries. The PSBS was also implemented in South Africa and Zimbabwe.

No. 41: The Quality Of Migration Services Delivery In South Africa, Yul Derek Davids, Kate Lefko-Everett, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

The South African Department of Home Affairs (DHA) is responsible for the implementation and management of migration policy and legislation, as well as the registration of births, marriages and deaths and the issuing of identity documents and passports. It is often criticised in the media and in private conversation for being administratively inefficient, cumbersome and unwieldy. South African and foreign customers reportedly regularly complain about the poor quality of services delivered by the Department. Such evidence and media reporting underpins the widelyheld belief that the Department is not easily accessible, is unresponsive to the needs of its customers, is riddled …

Managing Household Activities: Gender Differences In Time-Use And Activity Scheduling Behaviour, Kim T. Tran

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Over the past few decades, the observation of household activities was based on the participants' observed activity patterns using traditional diary-based methods and/or stated perceptions during face-to-face interviews. This research uses an innovative approach to probe men and women's activity and scheduling behaviours as they occur within a household setting. The approach involves the use of a computerized household activity scheduling process survey (CHASE) capable of tracing how activity-travel decisions are pre-planned, planned, added, modified, deleted, and executed over a one-week period. This approach goes beyond traditional diary-based methods, which tends to focus solely on observed outcomes. The data utilised …

Media Messages About Body Image And Food: Adolescent Perceptions Of Contradictory Messages In Television Commercials, Carrie Wise

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study had two primary purposes, the first of which was to examine contemporary television media messages and to ascertain whether there exists an ideological contradiction between messages associated with ideal body types and messages associated with obesity. The second purpose was to explore adolescents' perceptions of these messages and to understand their possible effects on adolescents. This study was conducted using a fallibilitic realism methodological approach. Two data collection methods were used in this study. A content analysis of current television commercials was conducted, from which three major findings emerged. First, there was a high frequency of commercials containing …

'The Aids Is Coming And There Is Nowhere To Run...': Culture, Gender, And The Politics Of Kisongo Maasai Women And Girls' Vulnerability To Hiv/Aids (Immune Deficiency, Tanzania), V. Corey Wright

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis outlines the research findings and implications for practice generated from the, “A Gender Issue: Reducing the Vulnerability of Kisongo Maasai Girls to HIV/AIDS” project, which was a participatory action research (PAR) study in collaboration with the Kisongo Maasai in Northern Tanzania. The objectives of the study were to explore the factors that may contribute to girls’ vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, and develop a culturally-specific framework that may contribute to effective design and administration of program and policy-level interventions. The findings of this study illustrate the ‘politics of health’ that determine girls’ vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. It presents a cultural analysis …

The Importance Of Care Irrespective Of Cure: The Daily Living Realities And The Service Experiences Of Families With Children With Complex Mental Health Problems, Nick Coady

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

This report summarizes the results of in-depth interviews conducted in the Summer of 2001 with parents from 12 families that had children who were or had been involved with an intensive, community-based service for children with complex mental health problems. This study had a dual focus: (a) to learn about the daily living realities of families with children who have complex mental health problems, and (b) to learn about families’ experiences with the mental health service. Qualitative analysis of the interviews yielded themes pertaining to each of these two areas of focus. The themes related to daily living realities paint …

Is Your Child’S Brain Potential Maximized? Mothering In An Age Of New Brain Research, Glenda Wall

Sociology Faculty Publications

Claims about the potential of early education and stimulation to enhance brain capacity have recently gained a prominent place in child rearing advice. This paper places the discourse that surrounds the new imperatives in its historical and sociological contexts and examines its implications for the experience and social expectations of mothers. In this light, the connections to the trend of increasingly child-centred and intensive parenting are explored as is the way in which these current claims fit within a neoliberal rationality where individual self-management, self-enhancement, and personal responsibility are seen as key.

No. 13: The Rise Of African Tourism To South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

South Africans display considerable ambiguity if not outright hostility towards Africans from other countries (Crush 2000). The extent of xenophobia was officially recognized in the Immigration Act of 2002 which gives government a statutory obligation to eliminate the phenomenon in its own ranks and amongst the citizenry. Foreign Africans in South Africa are regularly stereotyped as criminals, job-stealers, consumers of scarce public resources and carriers of disease. There is very little recognition of the positive economic benefits of the presence of other Africans in the country.

Africans come to South Africa for a variety of purposes and this needs to …

No. 1: Towards The Harmonization Of Immigration And Refugee Law In Sadc, Jonathan Klaaren, Bonaventure Rutinwa

Southern African Migration Programme

The MIDSA project on legal harmonization of immigration and refugee law in the Southern African Development Community had four main objectives: (a) to collect and collate information on national legislation in a single publication as a resource for policy-makers; (b) to identify points of similarity and difference in national immigration law between SADC-member states; (c) to investigate the possibilities for harmonization of national immigration policy and law; and (d) in the interests of good governance and regional cooperation and integration to make specific recommendations for harmonization. A second, parallel, SAMP study is investigating the issue of harmonization of migration data …

No. 14: Policing Migration: Immigration Enforcement And Human Rights In South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

This paper examines reported incidents of human rights abuses and violence directed towards foreigners where government employees have been the perpetrators. We discuss both direct human rights abuses and incidents of violence (with examples drawn from policing exercises such as “Operation Crackdown” and from the detention of undocumented migrants) and institutional violence (such as migration policy development and other executive actions promoting or at least failing to prevent victimisation of foreigners). In many of the reported incidents, law enforcement officials have been the direct perpetrators of the human rights violations.

The South African government is legally responsible for ensuring adherence …

No. 12: Nepad, The City And The Migrant: Implications For Urban Governance, Caroline Kihato

Southern African Migration Programme

Migration is a growing phenomenon internationally. Between 1960 and 2000 international migrants in Africa increased from 9 million to 16 million. Although Africa has experienced a drop in the number of international migrants over the last two decades, it has more than double the number of migrants than Latin America and the Caribbean, and between a half and a third of the number in Asia. Flows of people from country to country across the continent are increasingly significant. Migration between cities across the continent is becoming a common phenomenon, as households attempt to secure their livelihoods.

In addition to cross-border …

No. 30: Regionalizing Xenophobia? Citizen Attitudes To Immgration And Refugee Policy In Southern Africa, Jonathan Crush, Wade Pendleton

Southern African Migration Programme

The negative attitudes of South Africans towards non-citizens, migrants and refugees have been documented in several recent studies. Xenophobia has been officially recognized as a major problem by the state and steps have been taken by government and the South African Human Rights Commission to “roll back xenophobia.” Since anti-immigrant intolerance is a global phenomenon, should South Africans be singled out in this regard? This paper seeks to contextualize the South African situation by comparing the attitudes of South Africans with citizens from several other countries in the SADC; namely, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

In practical policy terms, …

Humour And Marital Quality: Is Humour Style Associated With Marital Success?, Melissa Johari

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Humour has been postulated to be an important variable contributing to success in romantic relationships. Most past research has tended to view humour as a unitary construct with invariably beneficial relationship effects (e.g., Hampes, 1992). However, if used maladaptively, humour may be a detriment to relationship success (Cohan and Bradbury, 1997). The purpose of the current study was to determine the relationship between adaptive/positive and maladaptive/negative styles of humour and quality of marriage. It was expected that positive humour is associated with higher marital quality, while negative humour is associated with lower marital quality. A secondary goal was to examine …