In Search of Social Structure*

Frederick L. Bates' career has been characterized by a single quest, the creation of an internally consistent theoretical model through which sociologists can conceptualize and analyze social structure from the simplest group structures to complex networks of groups and organizations. The basic elements of this model of social structure are examined and the model's theoretical foundations, assumptions and applications are discussed. Included are perspectives on structural modeling, self- referential systems theory and the concepts of social structure, social organization, culture, norms, and society as a non-system.     

Capitalist Coordination of Agriculture: Food Processing Firms and Farming in Central Canada1

Abstract This paper is concerned with the restructuring of petty commodity producers in agriculture and, more specifically, the role of food processing firms in this process. Two mechanisms by which processors secure their agricultural supplies—corporate farming and contract farming—are examined in central Canada. Although fairly widespread, corporate farming by processors is slowly declining and is unlikely to have a major impact on petty producers. By comparison, this study indicates that, in the context of corporate consolidation, the behavior of food processors in granting production contracts to formally independent farm operators is furthering the social differentiation of the latter.     

Finance Capital and Capitalist Class Integration in the 1990s: Networks of Interlocking Directorships in Canada and Australia*

Cet article permet de connaître le fonctionnement des conseils d'administration interdépendants des 250 premières entreprises et réseaux associés du Canada et d'Australie dans les années 1990. Ces conseils reflètent les relations sociales d'une classe hégémonique et représentent des instruments d'accumulation du capital le long d'un axe financier et industriel intégre (capital financier). Au Canada, ces deux aspects du pouvoir corporatif sont extrêmement centralisés au sein d'une élite essentiellement nationale. Le réseau australien est plus lâche, mais comporte un noyau visible, bien que le secteur financier y occupe une place moins importante et que les intérêts étrangers, quoique non dominants, soient plus présents sur le plan structurel. Au Canada, la classe capitaliste possède toutes les caractéristiques propres au capital financier tandis qu'en Australie les mécanismes d'intégration de la classe capitaliste, dans le cadre de l'interdépendance des entreprises, sont moins évidents. Dans cet article, on démontre que des systèmes differents d'intégration des classes sont ancrés historiquement dans les deux pays, et les auteurs s'interrogent sur le rôle du capital financier national dans le contexte contemporain de la mondialisation du capital. This paper examines the top 250 corporations and associated networks of interlocking directorates in Canada and Australia in the 1990s. Interlocks are interpreted both as social relations of class hegemony and as vehicles in the accumulation of capital along an integrated financial-industrial axis (finance capital). In Canada both these sides of corporate power are highly centralized within a predominantly national corporate elite. The Australian network is much sparser but still has a discernible core, although its financial sector has less presence at the core, and foreign interests while not dominant are somewhat more structurally prominent. The Canadian capitalist class exhibits all the characteristics suggested by finance capital; the mechanisms of capitalist class integration through corporate interlocking in Australia are weaker. We argue that different systems of class integration are historically embedded in the two countries, and speculate about the role of nationally organized finance capital in the contemporary globalization of capital.     

In Search of Housing: Urban Families in Rural Contexts*

Researchers have been following a trend posited by the renowned anthropologist Janet Fitchen, which examines the increasing movement of low‐income people to rural communities drawn not necessarily by labor market forces, but by the characteristics and amenities found in rural towns. This study adds to that literature by focusing on the ways in which public housing availability, changes in housing policy, and rural economic restructuring create opportunities for low‐income families to relocate from urban to rural communities in search of affordable housing. Data collected from an ethnographic sample addressed the following questions: (1) what motivates individuals and families to leave their urban neighborhoods and relocate to rural towns and (2) what challenges do individuals and families have in sustaining stable housing in rural communities? Two main sets of literature relevant to this discussion include studies of patterns of residential mobility and explanations of rural economic restructuring. Both form the conceptual approach of this article by offering a framework to better understand the housing choices and behaviors of low‐income families and the contexts in which these actions are situated.     

Farm Structure and Chemical Use in the Corn Belt1

Why do certain full-time farming operations embrace low-chemical input production practices and not others? Historical records of production from 25 randomly-sampled participants reflecting the conventional approach to production were systematically compared with 14 purposively-chosen low-input farming operations in three Iowa counties. Empirical indicators revealed a consistent relationship between increasing scale and chemical use intensity. In addition, younger family farm operators were more likely to adopt low-input practices. The causal mechanisms that account for these differences in chemical use are presented and related to long-standing debates regarding farm structure and class differentiation in capitalist agriculture.     

The Reflexive Producer: The Influence of Farmer Knowledge Upon the Use of Bt Corn*

Abstract This paper examines the influence of farmer knowledge upon decision making processes. Drawing upon the sociological debates around the ideas of reflexive modernity and biotechnology as well as from classic adoption and diffusion studies, I explore the influences upon farmers' use of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn. Utilizing survey data gathered from corn farmers in Minnesota and Wisconsin, I argue that farmers are ‘reflexive’ actors who actively negotiate between ‘expert’ and ‘local’ knowledges when deciding to plant Bt corn. Furthermore, I hypothesize that farmers are more likely to be influenced by their first‐hand or local experiences than by state or expert observations.     

Labour Force Activity of Women in Canada: A Comparative Analysis of Aboriginal and Non‐Aboriginal Women*

En s'appuyant sur les données du Fichier de mierodonnées à grande diffusion (FMGD) de 1996 sur les individus, cet article examine L'activité sur le marché du travail des femmes au Canada en mettant L'accent sur les effets du statut familial et de la structure du ménage pour déterminer si ces facteurs ont des réponses élastiques similaires chez les femmes autochtones et non autochtones. Nous avons trouvé que cette activité varie largement en fonction du statut d'autochtone. En général, les Indiens de plein droit avaient moms de chances de trouver un emploi que les autres autochtones ou les non‐autochtones. Alors que le niveau d'instruction, la présence d'enfants mineurs et la monoparentalité semblaient associés à une probabilité plus basse d'emploi, des différences significatives en fonction du statut d'autochtone ont été décelées. Les répercussions sur Pemploi du niveau d'instruction se sont révélées plus fortes chez les Indiens de plein droit. Using data from the 1996 Public Use Microdata File (PUMF) on individuals, this paper examines labour force activity of women in Canada, focussing on the effects of familial status and household structure to determine whether these factors have similar elasticities among Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal women. We found that labour force activity varied greatly by Aboriginal Status. In general, Registered Indians were less likely to be employed but more likely to be unemployed than Other Aboriginals and non‐Aboriginals. While lower educational attainment, presence of minor children and lone parenthood were found to be associated with a lower likelihood of being employed, significant differences by Aboriginal Status were found. The effect of educational attainment on employment was found to be higher among Registered Indians.     

Native Migrant Labour in the Southern Alberta Sugar-beet Industry: Coercion and Paternalism in the Recruitment of Labour*

Les recherches commencent à révéler de façon de plus en plus évidente la présence des autochtones dans les emplois salariés au Canada. Bien que nous constations la participation des autochtones au travail salarié, nous savons peu de choses sur le rôle joué par l'État en vue de les mobiliser pour qu'ils travaillent dans l'industrie canadienne. À partir de l'exemple des autochtones qui sont venus dans le sud de l'Alberta au cours des années cinquante et soixante travailler dans l'industrie de la betterave à sucre, cet article analyse le rôle de l'État dans leur mobilisation. Nous montrons qu'à diffé-rents échelons l'État, par l'intermédiaire de comités de main-d'?uvre fédéraux et provinciaux ainsi que du ministère fédéral des Affaires indiennes, a eu recours à diverses mesures paternalistes et coer-citives pour aider les fermiers du sud de l'Alberta à recruter et à retenir ces travailleurs. L'une des principales mesures utilisées par les gouvernements fédéral et provincial pour pousser les autochtones àémigrer a été de priver de leurs prestations d'aide sociale ceux et celles que l'on jugeait aptes au travail. Research has begun to increasingly document Native peoples' participation in wage employment in Canada. Despite an acknowledgement of native participation in wage labour, little is known of the role of the state in mobilizing Native workers for Canadian industry. Using the case of Native migration to the southern Alberta sugar-beet industry in the 1950s and 1960s, this paper analyzes the role of the state in the mobilization of the native workers for employment. We show that the various levels of the state, acting through federal/provincial manpower committees and the Indian Affairs Branch of the federal government, used a variety of paternalistic and coercive measures to help farmers in southern Alberta recruit and retain Native workers. One of the main measures used by the federal and provincial governments to coerce Native people into migration was to cut off social assistance benefits to those Native people deemed to be employable.     

Interrogating Racialized Global Labour Supply: An Exploration of the Racial/National Replaceme of Foreign Agricultural Workers in Canada*

Dans cet article, on analyse le remplacement des travailleurs antillais par des Mexicains dans le Programme des travailleurs agricoles saisonniers du gouvernement du Canada, en mettant l'accent sur le rôle des interprétations racialisées dans la mise en ?uvre de ce genre de programme. On y soutient qu'un mécanisme de racialisation étaie les discours des agriculteurs ontariens à la recherche de la main‐d ?uvre la plus laborieuse, fiable et flexible. Parfois même, les discours des agriculteurs affichent un racisme grossier, dépeignant les honimes antillais comme des Noirs hypersexués qui présentent un risque pour les Canadiennes, alors que, d'autres fois, ces préjugés raciaux sont formulées en termes de prédispositions physiques ou psychologiques à travailler à certaines récoltes. This paper analyses the replacement of Caribbean workers by Mexicans in Canada's Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program, highlighting the role of racialized understandings in implementing foreign worker programs. It argues that a process of racialization underpins the discourses employed by Ontario growers in search of the most hardworking, reliable and flexible labour force. Sometimes grower discourses manifest a crude racism, casting Caribbean men as hypersexualized Black subjects who pose a risk to Canadian women, while other times these racialized assumptions are framed in terms of physical and/or psychic dispositions to the production of certain crops.     

Succession Patterns of Farmer and Successor in Canadian Farm Families1

Abstract Two different succession patterns, the entrepreneur and the yeoman, were identified by Salamon and her colleagues (e.g., Salamon 1985; Salamon et al. 1986) among ethnic families on century farms. The applicability of this typology for succession on Canadian farms was assessed among 36 families who had transferred or were making provisions for transferring the farm. Case studies revealed patterns consistent with the Salamon typology for a quarter of our families, but the yeoman and entrepreneur styles were not the central contrast that differentiated them. Instead, two approaches to farm management were identified: the expander and the conservator. The combination of these two approaches in the older farmer and younger successor comprise four farmer-successor succession patterns: expander-expander; expander-conservator; conservator-expander; and conservator-conservator. Each style has different working relationships, succession strategies, and areas of potential difficulty.     

In Search of a Better Life: The Experiences of Working Poor Immigrants in Vancouver,Canada

We utilized data from 72 in‐depth interviews with immigrant hotel and hospital support workers employed in the service sector of Vancouver, Canada to analyse migration decisions and subsequent experiences after arrival. We found that migrant social networks were centrally important, both as a stimulus for migration and in shaping post‐arrival experiences. At the same time, the working conditions faced by immigrants after arrival, such as low pay and long work hours, resulted in serious challenges. While some struggled with multiple jobs to make ends meet, others felt their economic circumstances prevented them from even bringing their children to Canada. In some cases, children were returned to their country of origin. Features of low‐wage service sector jobs also limited the time available for participation in community life. The findings both support and advance recent theoretical contributions about the incorporation of immigrants in the United States and Canada. As immigrants frequently face occupational downgrading and are channelled into low‐wage service sector jobs, the conditions of work and social policies are important for their post‐arrival experiences and incorporation. Going beyond traditional conceptions of citizenship in the immigration literature, some respondents acted through their union and community organizations to attempt to change society and improve their fortunes. While some sought social justice through political activism, others used their limited family and community life time to reterritorialize values from their countries of origin. Part of their activism was transnational, such as sending remittances to help loved ones back home, but other involvement included participation in organizations with the aim of promoting social justice or improving life in their new country. The experiences of immigrant service sector workers in Vancouver suggest a need for greater emphasis on the role of both immigrant and non‐immigrant specific social and labour policies for understanding immigrant incorporation in North America.     

Surveying the “Post‐Industrial” Landscape: Information Technologies and Labour Market Polarization in Canada*

Dans le cours des débats récents concernant l'effet des technologies nouvelles sur le travail, une question touche la polarisation des «bons» et des «mauvais» emplois dans l'économie postindustrielle. Les compétences et les gains figurent au centre des préoccupations. À partir de données tirées de l'Enquête sociale générale de 1994, nous avons examiné l'utilisation de l'informatique au Canada, et nous avons analysé l'incidence de cet usage sur les compétences et les gains liés aux emplois. Nos conclusions n'appuient pas une explication du phénomène de la polarisation fondée sur la technologie dans le marché du travail. Les caractéristiques des travailleurs et les modalités professionnelles sont beaucoup plus importantes, bien qu'il existe des differences rattachées aux competences en infor‐matique dans des regroupements semblables de professions. A key issue in recent debates over the impact of new technologies on work is the polarization of “good” and “bad” jobs within the “post‐industrial” economy. Two dimensions—skill and earnings—have been of central concern. Drawing on the 1994 General Social Survey, we examine computer use in Canada, and analyze its impact on job earnings and skill. Our findings do not support a technology‐based explanation of polarization within the labour market as a whole. Instead, worker characteristics and occupational conditions are far more important, although there is some evidence of computer‐related skill differences within similar groupings of occupations.     

Becoming a New Farmer: Agrarianism and the Contradictions of Diverse Economies*

A resurgence of agrarianism has motivated new farmers to enter farming, not for profit, but for lifestyle and socio‐ecological values which are frequently associated with diverse economies. Proponents of diverse economies argue for an ontological reframing that accounts for non‐capitalist forms of economic exchange. However, these perspectives have not fully addressed the conditions—often structured by race and class—that facilitate participation in diverse economies. This paper is based on mixed‐methods research on the life cycle of new farmers in Hawai‘i that include participants of farmer training programs. We investigate what drives new farmers into farming, by what mechanisms they are able (or not) to establish a farm, and what limits the duration of their participation. Our analysis reveals three contradictions of diverse economies in agriculture: (1) the inadvertent undervaluation of farmwork that undermines broader efforts to improve the welfare of farm labor; (2) the tension between the value of scaling up and the vulnerability of cooptation; and (3) the ways in which the duration of new farmers' engagement is structured by their ability to mobilize unpaid labor and external resources. These contradictions challenge long‐term and inclusive participation in diverse economies in ways that constrain their emancipatory potential.     

Entering the Labour Market in Britain: the survival of traditional opportunity structures*

This article analyses the career development from age 16 to 20 of representative samples from Kirkcaldy, Liverpool, Sheffield and Swindon who were surveyed by mailed questionnaire in three successive years - 1987, 1988 and 1989. Although most respondents attributed significant power of career determination to themselves, the evidence shows that the young people's career choices had typically been inconsequential for their later achievements. These had depended on their places of residence, secondary school qualifications, and social class backgrounds. The samples’ self-concepts and social beliefs were not systematically affected by, but had played a part in determining, their career paths. However, social class origins, on account of their cumulative effects at successive career stages, were the best predictors of the samples’ longer-term career trajectories. The evidence from this research shows that the benefits of the new opportunities in post-compulsory education and youth training that were introduced in Britain in the 1980s were filtered by the traditional predictors of career success. Furthermore, the main routes into the workforce of the 1970s and before - an academic track for high achievers in education, and employment-led inductions from age 16 or 17 for the rest - remained the main routes at the end of the 1980s.     

Translating Nations: Actor-Network Theory in/and Canada*

Dans l'examen des problématiques de l«identité nationale» au Canada, la sociologie critique est de plus en plus tournée vers l'analyse discursive, aboutissant à des conclusions nuancées et complexes. Or, une telle approche risque d'escamoter d'autres analyses, tout aussi utiles, qui attribuent à la technologie un rôle central dans le processus de «nation-building» au Canada. Cet article explore la sociologie de la traduction, aussi appelée théorie d'acteur-réseau, et suggère que l'emprunt d'une telle approche se prêterait à une analyse plus complète des «questions nationales» du Canada et du Québec - analyse qui intégrerait les catégories du social et de la technique. Canadian critical sociology draws increasingly from discourse analysis to work out questions of national identity in Canada, yielding complex and nuanced results, but not sufficiently engaging with other work privileging technology as a central question in Canadian nation-building. This paper explores the sociology of translation, also known as actor-network theory, and suggests that such an approach might usefully be taken up in order to provide a more complete analysis of the “national questions” of Canada and Québec that integrates both social and technological categories.     

Ethnic Variations in Marriage and Fertility: Canada 1871*

Le rencensement canadien de 1871 comprenait des données permettant de mesurer les variations qui existaient entre les groupes ethniques quant au marage et à la fécondité. Ces variations expliquent en grande partie les différences observées entre les provinces en ce qui a trait à la moyenne d'âge au mariage, à la féconditè maritale, et au taux de natalité en 1871. L'appartenance à un groupe ethnique exerçait une influence extrêmement forte sur la nuptialité et la fécondité. Cette influence s'exercait à la fois directement, et indirectement selon le droit coutumier propre à chaque groupe ethnique concernant la distribution des terres. Les coutumes relatives au droit de succession et au partage des terres engendraient des inégalités dans la répartition des terres, ce qui augmentait ou diminuait la possibilité de taux élevés de nuptialité et de fécondité. Cependant la nuptialitéétait moins influencée par la répartition des terres que ne l'était la fécondité Ceci implique que les coutumes propres aux groupes ethniques concernant la nuptialité ont continuéà exercer directement une influence prédominante sur le taux des mariages. On conclut qu'on peut expliquer de façon satisfaisante les variations régionales et provinciales dans la nuptialité et la fécondité par les variations dans la composition ethnique de la population, et en second lieu peut-être par les modèles historiques de peuplement, Les pratiques relatives à la procreation propres à chaque groupe ethnique faisaient partie de l'héritage culturel que les immigrants ont apporté au Canada. Celles-ci ne furent pas tellement modifiés dans le contexte canadien. Le maintien de ces pratiques reflétait et perpétuait le caractère distinctif de chaque groupe ethnique au sein de la société canadienne, et peut avoir affecté le développement de la mosaïque verticale du Canada. The Canadian census of 1871 provided data for the estimation of ethnic variations in marriage and fertility. These variations largely account for the observed provincial variations in mean age at marriage, marital fertility, and birth rate, in 1871. Ethnic identity exercised an extremely strong influence on nuptiality and fertility, both directly and indirectly through the impact of ethnic custom on land distribution. Customs of inheritance and land partibility affected land inequality and mean size of landholdings, which in turn increased or decreased the feasibility of high levels of nuptiality and fertility. However, nuptiality was less influenced by land distribution than was fertility, implying that ethnic customs of nuptiality continued to predominate in the direct determination of marriage levels. It is concluded that regional and provincial variations in nuptiality and fertility can be satisfactorily accounted for by variations in ethnic composition and, perhaps secondarily, by historical patterns of land settlement. Ethnic reproductive practices were part of the cultural heritage brought to Canada by its immigrants, and they continued largely unaffected by the changed environment. Their continuity signified and maintained ethnic distinctiveness in Canadian society, but may also have had implications for the development of the Canadian “vertical mosaic.”     

Doing Disability: Disability Formations in the Search for Work*

Disability theorists have spent much time discussing how disability is defined. The theoretical roots for these debates reside in the medical, structural, and minority models of disability. The medical model views disability as equivalent to a functional impairment; the minority model sees a lack of equal rights as a primary impediment to social equality between able and disabled populations; and the structural model looks to environmental factors as the cause of disability. While debates over how to define disability are informative, there is currently an insufficient amount of empirical research looking at how people come to identify themselves as having a disability. Rather than focus on how disability is (or should be) defined, herein we look at how disability identities are constructed as people search for work. We show that people's interactions with employers and employment agencies have important influences on how disability identities are constructed. We borrow from the “doing gender” and “racial formations” paradigms to introduce an interactive approach to looking at how disability identities are constructed. We introduce the concept of disability formation to highlight how disability identities are continually negotiated through interactions with employment agencies and employers. Our findings are based on focus groups with 58 people who self‐identified as having a disability and were working or searching for work.     

After Farming: Emotional Health Trajectories of Farm,Nonfarm, and Displaced Farm Couples*

Abstract This study links macro social change to emotional health through continuity and change in farming. Families were divided into four groups, depending on whether they were full‐time farmers, part‐time farmers, displaced farm families who had left farming during the 1980s, or nonfarm families. Using four waves of panel data, we estimated initial levels and subsequent changes in per capita family income, stressful life events, and depressive symptoms of wives and husbands. Between 1989 and 1992, full‐time farm families' incomes decreased dramatically, while displaced farm families started 1989 with the lowest average per capita family income but saw the largest average increases in subsequent years. Farm status and changes in income predicted changes in stressful life events; changes in stressful life events, in turn, predicted changes in wives' and husbands' reports of depressive symptoms.