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Weekly UpdatesRobert O'Brien, ed., Solidarity First: Canadian Workers and Social Cohesion (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press 2008)
THIS 226-PAGE edited collection analyzes the concept and application of social cohesion for (mostly) Canadian workers. Notions of social cohesion centre on the degree of incorporation of individuals into society and their participation in its processes. The book's premise is that social cohesion both offers workers an opportunity to advance their interests and frequently works against those interests--that is to say, social cohesion is contested terrain and its utility to workers depends upon its basis, nature, and form. Worker responses to economic dislocation and rising inequity form the focus of the book's ten chapters. Among the key points made is that worker solidarity appears to be a prerequisite for both resisting negative forms of social cohesion and extracting social cohesion policies that advantage workers.
Belinda Leach and Charlotte Yates examine the gendered nature of work in the Ontario auto industry and its implication for social cohesion. In short, they argue the form and shape of social cohesion is partially determined by the position and experiences of women in work and the labour market. The gendering of paid and unpaid work and the postwar construction of men's and women's roles as complementary became sources of social cohesion. Though this gendered approach to maintaining social cohesion was challenged in the 1970s, the pressures exerted by neo-liberal and neo-conservative ideas thereafter have compelled women into increasingly intensified employment while stripping away social and state supports necessary for women to carry out their disproportionate social reproduction obligations.
Holly Gibbs examines how auto-part workers in Ontario and Mexico conceptualize "otherness," finding that workers have internalized notions of international competitiveness and defined threats to their society in terms of foreign workers, rather than the operation of global economic systems. Further, cohesion based on the threat of other workers reduces the willingness of workers to resist capital's interest in reducing wages and intensifying work. Indeed, the perceived need of workers to be maximally efficient to even maintain their jobs pits workers against each other and encourages self-discipline in the workforce.
Wayne Lewchuk and Don Wells examine the development of workplace cohesion at a Magna plant in Ontario while Mark Thomas considers how the social organization of working time at a Toyota factory retards the development of non-corporate social cohesion. Lewchuck and Wells note that Magna has developed a high worker commitment to managerial productivity goals via the organization of work as well as by emphasizing the threat posed to jobs by external market forces. This formulates social cohesion at a plant to the exclusion of social class and fosters collaboration between labour and capital. The ability of Magna to maintain its part of the bargain in the face of intensifying international competition is unclear. Thomas examines how the organization of work time at a Toyota plant in Ontario (including non-voluntary overtime and short-term contracts) is used to control workers and create a form of social cohesion, whereby workers refusing overtime are pressured to work harder. Thomas also notes that the organization of time is a site of (sporadic) resistance.
Larry Haiven considers the duality of social capital as it applies to social cohesion in Cape Breton. While Haiven provides no definitive conclusions, his discussion of culture as both a source of economic development and a locus of conflict is quite engaging. While working-class issues and class conflict form a significant component of Cape Breton culture, the degree to which this culture can be used to develop social cohesion capable of challenging capital appears limited. Indeed, it may serve more as an outlet for tensions than as a part of a framing process that can lead to social mobilization.
Robert O'Brien examines the way in which civic associations perceive the development of a global, neo-liberal economy, and whether (and how) they engage with international forces. Fifteen interviews with a variety of associations find interesting cleavages between groups with national versus international focuses and between groups that see solutions based on increased competition versus increased solidarity. This highlights tensions about the boundaries of social cohesion evident in other case studies (e.g., Gibbs, and Lewchuk and Wells) and reinforces the message that worker solidarity appears to be a prerequisite for both resisting negative forms of social cohesion and extracting social cohesion policies that advantage workers.
Roy Adams' chapter addresses collective bargaining from the perspective of human rights. This chapter is an odd inclusion: while an interesting perspective, it is not well connected to the theme of social cohesion, reprises Adams' 2006 book Labour Left Out, and ignores the impact of the Supreme Court's decision in Health Services and Support--Facilities Subsector Bargaining Assn, relying instead on Dunmore (although this may reflect a delay in publication rather than an omission). Its value lies in demonstrating limited state commitment to worker collective representation, a significant source of worker cohesion and power.
Leah Vosko examines the difficult question of who requires statutory labour protections by examining developments at the ILO and their application to precarious employment in Canada. This chapter nicely extends the analysis presented in Vosko's 2006 edited collection, Precarious Employment: Understanding Labour Market Insecurity in Canada. Using the standard employment relationship as the basis upon which to grant labour rights and allocate social benefits was a successful strategy for maintaining social cohesion following the Second World War, but has been significantly undermined by the development of non-standard employment relationships, many of which entail an element of precariousness. This approach perpetuates divisions within the working class that are significantly gendered and racialized.
The volume concludes with a brief essay by O'Brien. He notes that the studies in the book highlight that existing approaches to social cohesion typically pass costs from one group of workers and their families to another. This transfer of costs typically occurs along the lines of gender, employment (in)security, and nationality. The development of worker solidarity crossing these divisions appears to be a prerequisite for social cohesion policies that do not simply reapportion disadvantage among workers.
Overall, I found this volume a useful examination of social cohesion, its potential to improve workers' lives, and its utility in the hands of capital to disadvantage workers. While reading the chapters, two main classroom applications came to mind. The book (or portions of it) would be useful in introducing key features of the labour market and the management of employment relationships to undergraduates. The background information on, for example, the gendered nature of employment, is provided in a succinct and accessible manner while Lewchuk and Wells' chapter is a useful case study in HRM techniques. While the book takes a critical perspective on these issues, its avoidance of an overtly Marxist analysis may draw students into a critical appraisal of work relationships that they might otherwise discount because of ideological prejudice against Marxism. The book could also be used in advanced undergraduate courses focusing on understanding and analyzing social cohesion trends in the workplace, community, and society. In this respect, this collection provides a useful and broad-based examination of this phenomenon and its role in social reproduction.
BOB BARNETSON
Athabasca University
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