Under the Gaze

Learning to be Black in White Society

Jennifer Kelly

This book deals with the perceptions and experiences of Black Canadian high school students growing up in a White-dominated society. Using student narratives, the book gives an insight and understanding of the process of racialization as it relates to popular culture, gender, and relationship with peers. Student voices reveal a complex identity formation drawing on various sources and multiple meanings as they learn to be Black in a White society. (more information)

Power and Resistance

Critical Thinking about Canadian Social Issues

Edited by Wayne Antony, Les Samuelson

How do we make sense of the social problems such as poverty, economic collapse, violence, homophobia and pollution that continue to plague Canadian society? From the neoliberal perspective all of these issues come down to individual choice and action, but from the critical perspective social issues emerge from inequalities — disparities in access to housing, education, healthcare and wealth, for example — and inequalities emerge from relations of power. Some groups of people have… (more information)

Pursuing Justice

An Introduction to Justice Studies

Edited by Margot Hurlbert

This book is about justice: its definition, its boundaries, its contradictions, its nuances. It is also about pursuing justice and the mechanisms and practices that enable this pursuit. But justice is a tricky topic — just defining it is daunting. There are diverse and competing philosophies about what justice is, as well as several theoretical approaches to justice studies. Adding to the complexity, justice is played out within many social contexts and issues: the Canadian justice system,… (more information)

About Canada: Health & Illness

Dennis Raphael

Most Canadians believe that their experiences of health and illness are shaped by luck, treatment options and lifestyle choices. Government, public health units and various disease associations all reinforce this perception by continually extolling lifestyle choices and genetic research as the solution to our illnesses. About Canada: Health and Illness tells a different story. This book argues that it is the social determinants of health, imposed on us by the ‘market’, that dictate the… (more information)

Leaving the Streets

Stories of Canadian Youth

Alexa Carson, Phillip Clement, Katie Crane, Jeff Karabanow

Youth between sixteen and twenty-four are considered the fastest growing segment of the homeless population in Canada. While much has been written about street engagement and street culture, little attention has been paid to how youth move away from the street. Giving prominence to the voices of the street youth themselves, Leaving the Streets explores the attempts of street youth to exit street life, examining the motivations and challenges, as well as the supports and barriers that aid and hurt… (more information)

Poverty, Regulation & Social Justice

Readings on the Criminalization of Poverty

Edited by Diane Crocker, Val Marie Johnson

Emerging from a public colloquium on the criminalization of poverty, this volume critically interrogates how state and private practices have increasingly come to over-regulate people with severely limited economic resources, and understands this regulation as part of the dynamics of liberal capitalism. Exploring issues such as homelessness, social assistance and single mothers, and written from a diversity of perspectives from academics to frontline workers, policy-makers and those affected first… (more information)

Ontario Works–Works for Whom?

An Investigation of Workfare in Ontario

Julie Vaillancourt

This book is an institutional ethnographic investigation of the Ontario Works program and the problems that it creates in the lives of people on social assistance. Ontario Works is a work-for-welfare program that was implemented in Ontario in 1996 as part of the neoliberal restructuring of the welfare state. The book shows that Ontario Works has not, in reality, been used to help people on assistance and rather has been used as another means of facilitating an attack on them, while providing subsidized… (more information)

In the Other Room

Entering the Culture of Motherhood

Fiona Nelson

Becoming a mother impacts every aspect of a woman’s life. Often, it is other mothers with whom a new mother is able to articulate, debate and negotiate dimensions of her mothering experiences, from the physical/social aspects of pregnancy, through the daily work of new mothering, to the competing cultural constructions of motherhood. A diverse group of first-time mothers discussed and examined their experiences with what many have called “the mommies’ club.” Through interactions… (more information)

How Societies Work

Class, Power and Change in a Canadian Context, 4th edition

Joanne Naiman

How Societies Work offers a unique introduction to the analysis of contemporary Canadian society, by focusing on both the roots of modern societies and the current political economy of Canada. Drawing on various sociological theories as well as anthropology, genetics, economics, history, philosophy, politics, and social psychology, this accessible and integrated work helps undergraduate students make sense of our complex social world. The author’s goal is to open students’ minds to the… (more information)

Power and Resistance 4th ed.

Critical Thinking about Canadian Social Issues (4th edition)

Edited by Wayne Antony, Les Samuelson

How do we make sense of poverty, globalization, violence between men and women, youth politics, barriers to Aboriginal economic development, privatization of universities, and the like? These are just some of the questions taken up in Power and Resistance. The contributors to this book use a variety of analytical approaches. Yet, each shares a conviction that the social, economic and political issues confronting Canadians are shaped by the social inequalities that continue to plague us. At the same… (more information)

Big Death

Funeral Planning in the Age of Corporate Deathcare

Doug Smith

Over the last twenty years the corporate death “care” industry, has taken over Canada’s funerals and funeral planning, in preparation for the Golden Age of Death in North America, which will commence in 2016, when the first baby boomer turns seventy. In Big Death, Winnipeg writer Doug Smith shows how “Big Death” has bought up countless funeral homes, jacked up prices and maintained the facade of local ownership by not changing the name over the door. The book also… (more information)

Realizing Hope

Life Beyond Capitalism

Michael Albert

Something is profoundly wrong with capitalism. Vast inequalities of wealth and power won’t take the world to a better future. “What is the alternative?” is a question echoing all around the globe. Michael Albert has wrestled with this question for many years, and his answer regarding economics has captured the imagination of many. Participatory Economics—“Parecon” for short—Albert’s proposed economic system to replace capitalism, rejects competitive… (more information)

Social Inclusion

Canadian Perspectives

Edited by Ted Richmond, Anver Saloojee

How is the concept of social inclusion evolving in policy terms? Are we moving toward a common understanding or definition? What does social inclusion mean for issues like poverty and the growing racialization of poverty? What can we learn about social inclusion in theory and practice from the perspectives of the needs of children and their parents? What are the contributions of feminists and of the disability rights movement? What does social inclusion mean for Canada’s newcomers, for anti… (more information)

Contesting Fundamentalisms

Edited by JoAnn Jaffe, Carol Schick, Ailsa M. Watkinson

Fundamentalism has been thrust into the limelight by recent world events. It is necessary to understand fundamentalism in order to contest its claims, but talk of fundamentalism lacks precision. In Contesting Fundamentalisms, the authors cast a wide net to include an array of ideological positions in social and cultural movements, as well as more traditional areas of religious practice. The chapters critically investigate the nature of fundamentalism in economics, nationalism, ethnic relations… (more information)

Experiencing Difference

Carl E. James

Difference is a fundamental aspect of our human existence. This anthology emerges from the editor’s attempts to navigate the complex, variable and unpredictable materiality of difference. The contributors present the various ways in which difference is experienced, interpreted and articulated. They tell of when and how they are named and/or recognized as different by others, and of their own naming and recognition of themselves as different. The essays show that gender, social class, ethnicity… (more information)

The Dome of Silence

Sexual Harassment and Abuse in Sport

Lorraine Greaves, Olena Hankivsky, Sandra Kirby

”Having experienced coach-athlete abuse as a child and having investigated the issue as an adult, I know firsthand that sexual abuse by coaches is extremely toxic and distressingly common. It’s also shrouded in secrecy. This book successfully lifts that dome of silence.” Mariah Burton Nelson, author of The Unburdened Heart: Five Keys to Forgiveness and Freedom. ”The Dome of Silence uncovers the insidious abuse of power in sport by coaches and officials, and gives real nuts… (more information)

Maid in the Market

Women’s Paid Domestic Labour

Edited by Sedef Arat-Koç, Wenona Giles

Even when done in “public” and for pay, the work of housekeeping and caregiving in capitalist society is problematic. This book shows how the work of reproduction is subordinated and devalued in the marketplace as well as at home. ”These essays explore the topic in useful ways and offer a refreshingly nuanced assessment...”–Margaret Conrad, Canadian Book Review Annual (more information)