Your search

This essay provides a selective overview of the Canadian historiography on family. The roots of family history not only extend backwards much further than the "new social history" born of the tumultuous 1960s, they are buried deep in several other disciplines, most notably sociology, anthropology, and demography, whose practitioners were concerned as much with the historical process of family change as with the state of families contemporary to their times. I consider how pioneering social scientists, by grappling with the family's relationship to structural change, historicized early 20th century family studies and offered up many of the questions, concepts, théories, and methods that continue to inform historical scholarship on families. Turning to the body of historical publications that followed in the wake of, and were often inspired by, the "new social history," I highlight the monograph studies that served as signposts in the field's development, especially for what they have revealed about the critical nexus of family, work, and class. The historiography mirrors the family 's history: "family" consists of so many intricately plaited strands that separating them out is frustrating and often futile. I have attempted to classify this material both topically and chronologically within broad categories, but the boundaries blur so that most of these works could fit as comfortably in several others. Many of them, in fact, will be recognized as important contributions to fields such as labour, ethnic, women's, or gender history rather than as works of family history per se.

Describes the forthcoming biographical dictionary of US French-speaking radicals that was intended to contribute to sociobiographical studies. [Editor's note (2021): There was no record that the book was published.]

The article reviews the book, "Unlikely Partners: Philanthropic Foundations and the Labor Movement," by Richard Magat.

Les clauses dites « orphelins » ont été introduites au Québec vers le milieu des années 80. Récemment, un débat très vif a eu cours au sujet de la validité de ces clauses. La question du caractère discriminatoire ou non des clauses « orphelins », par rapport à la Charte des droits et libertés de la personne, a occupé fréquemment le devant de la scène au Québec pour aboutir à l'adoption, par l'Assemblée nationale, du projet de loi n" 67 modifiant la Loi sur les normes du travail. Cet article présente d'abord le concept de discrimination et ses possibilités d'application au phénomène des clauses « orphelins », étudie la portée des exceptions au principe de discrimination dans l'emploi qui pourraient faire écran à d'éventuelles plaintes en ce domaine, pour examiner enfin la juridiction respective de la Commission des normes du travail et de la Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse.

Contracting Masculinity: Gender, Class and Race in a White-Collar Union, 1944-1994, by Gillian Creese, is reviewed.

The Montreal labour movement during the First World War evolved from an initially anti-militarist position to growing support for the war effort, notably through voluntary enlistment and measures to support unionized soldiers. However, the Conscription Crisis of 1917 deeply divided workers, particularly in Quebec, where opposition was strong, fuelled by political and social tensions. Despite protests and resistance, conscription was imposed, marking a turning point in relations between the labour movement and the government, while exacerbating internal and political divisions within the unions.

Discusses Debouzy's scholarly work, which is notable for its preoccupation with the social history dimensions of international capitalism. Themes include transnational approach to studies of labour migration, Americanization of French universities, American influences on the French New Left, and French and American workers.

The article reviews the book, "The Measure of Democracy: Polling, Market Research and Public Life, 1930-1945," by Daniel J. Robinson.

List of Debouzy's publications, with English translation of titles.

The article reviews by the book, "Handbook of Gender and Work," edited by Gary N. Powell.

The article reviews the book, "Oil, Wheat, and Wobblies: The Industrial Workers of the World in Oklahoma, 1905-1930," by Nigel Anthony Sellars.

The article reviews the book, "Organizing Immigrants: The Challenge for Unions in Contemporary California," edited by Ruth Milkman.

The article reviews the book, "The Working Class Majority: America's Best Kept Secret," by Michael Zweig.

Management and union negotiators have the choice of adopting competitive or problem-solving strategies to find acceptable outcomes but they may also have to yield, a process which is less clearly understood. Competing, problem solving and yielding have to be conveyed to those sitting across the bargaining table. Using material from a transcript of an Australian labor-management negotiation, negotiators are seen to rely on simple positional statements rather than argument to convey their compositional statements rather than argument to convey their commitment, while problem-solving activities appear to be squeezed in between other more competitive interactions. Giving ground is done quietly and without much fuss, concessions are muted or foreshadowed rather than made explicitly.

The article reviews the book, "La CSN : 75 ans d'action syndicale et sociale," edited by Yves Bélanger and Robert Comeau.

Being Local Worldwide: ABB and the Challenge of Global Management, edited by Jacques Belanger, Christian Berggren, Torsten Bjorkman and Christoph Kohler, is reviewed.

The article reviews the book, "Politics and Public Debt: The Dominion, the Banks, and Alberta's Social Credit," by Robert L. Ascah.

This paper offers and tests a model for national union adoption of information technology (IT). Data come from a mail survey of national unions that were active in the US in 1997. Consistent with the model's predictions and prior research on union innovation, results indicate that rationalization and size are key predictors of IT adoption. Results also suggest a role for decentralization, employer use of information technology, and prior innovation. IT adoption may be one of the most important areas of union innovation in decades, and may have substantial impacts on union outcomes and possibly on the nature of unions. Understanding the nature and causes of IT adoption by unions may provide insight on the changing nature of unions and their roles in the future.

Is there a Canadian labour film? After a century of film production in Canada, the answer is uncertain. Canadian workers do appear in a variety of documentary and feature film productions, but their presence often arises from the incidental processes of documentation and fictionalization. There is also a more purposeful body of work focused on the concerns of labour history, but its promise remains relatively underdeveloped. Although film has become one of the dominant languages of communications at the end of the 20th century, the practice of visual history stands to benefit from closer collaboration between historians and filmmakers.

The article reviews the book, "The Discipline of Teamwork: Participation and Concertive Control," by James R. Barker.