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A deep exploration of the experience of work in Canada
Canada, A Working History describes the ways in which work has been performed in Canada from the pre-colonial period to the present day. Work is shaped by a wide array of influences, including gender, class, race, ethnicity, geography, economics, and politics. It can be paid or unpaid, meaningful or alienating, but it is always essential. The work experience led people to form unions, aspire to management roles, pursue education, form professional associations, and seek self-employment. Work is also often in our cultural consciousness: it is pondered in song, lamented in literature, celebrated in film, and preserved for posterity in other forms of art. It has been driven by technological change, governed by laws, and has been the cause of disputes and the means by which people earn a living in Canada’s capitalist economy.
Ennobling, rewarding, exhausting, and sometimes frustrating, work has helped define who we are as Canadians.
Canada, A Working History describes the ways in which work has been performed in Canada from the pre-colonial period to the present day. Work is shaped by a wide array of influences, including gender, class, race, ethnicity, geography, economics, and politics. It can be paid or unpaid, meaningful or alienating, but it is always essential. The work experience led people to form unions, aspire to management roles, pursue education, form professional associations, and seek self-employment. Work is also often in our cultural consciousness: it is pondered in song, lamented in literature, celebrated in film, and preserved for posterity in other forms of art. It has been driven by technological change, governed by laws, and has been the cause of disputes and the means by which people earn a living in Canada’s capitalist economy.
Ennobling, rewarding, exhausting, and sometimes frustrating, work has helped define who we are as Canadians.
Price: $22.99
Pages: 352
Publisher: Dundurn Press
Imprint: Dundurn Press
Publication Date:
20 April 2021
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9781459746022
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
HISTORY / Social History, Sociology: work & labour, HISTORY / Canada / General, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Labor, Social & cultural history
A welcome addition to the literature ... Russell's book is not about women's work or even the working class; rather, it offers a panoramic tour of productive human activity in this country, starting with the arrival of Indigenous peoples and ending with today's gig economy.
Notable for its detail and human scale ... {Canada, A Working History] looks at current trends and what they might portend for the future of work in Canada.
Canada, A Working History is a refreshing take on Canadian history. By focusing on workers and their battles — rather than on the elite running the country — historian Jason Russell tells the story of Canada in a way that is both enlightening and engaging.
Balanced, informative, and insightful, Jason Russell’s Canada: A Working History, provides a comprehensive and compelling survey of the contours of work in Canada from before the colonialist period to the COVID-19 pandemic. The scope and depth of Russell’s work provides anyone interested in understanding the evolution of work in Canada with a narrative that captures the tremendous historical challenges and accomplishments of working Canadians. Accessibly written at a crisp pace and with an engaging style, Canada: A Working History, helps 21st Century Canadians understand the roots of working people’s current predicaments and possibilities — from deindustrialization and precarity to revitalized worker activism and renewed optimism about the future of work in Canada.
Jason Russell offers a fresh and insightful new survey of the history of work in Canada. The book's ambition is remarkable: readers get a grounding in the broad landscape of Canadian history starting from European colonization, and a keen understanding of the repeated transformations of the world of work up to the present. His analysis considers a range of complex social, economic, and political forces shaping work in Canada, including workers' efforts to organize themselves, yet his accessible prose makes the book an enjoyable read for anyone interested in labour and history.
From precolonial history (including essential discussions of colonialism and slavery) through to the present-day challenges of technological surveillance of workers, Canada, A Working History is a comprehensive overview of the history of work in what is now Canada. Jason Russell takes care to move beyond a focus on union organizations to include the role of the state, the demands of capital, and the portrayals of labour in various media. Significantly, Russell’s definition of work is not limited to paid labour, which allows him to pay much needed attention to the essential roles of women workers both domestically and outside the home. Canada, A Working History is a useful synopsis for any and all Canadian workers.
An excellent resource, especially for popular readers or as a textbook for early-year undergraduate courses, Canada: A Working History uses changing conceptions of work, working-class experiences, and moments of class-based resistance to illustrate how these factors have shaped and influenced our readings of the country’s past.
Notable for its detail and human scale ... {Canada, A Working History] looks at current trends and what they might portend for the future of work in Canada.
Canada, A Working History is a refreshing take on Canadian history. By focusing on workers and their battles — rather than on the elite running the country — historian Jason Russell tells the story of Canada in a way that is both enlightening and engaging.
Balanced, informative, and insightful, Jason Russell’s Canada: A Working History, provides a comprehensive and compelling survey of the contours of work in Canada from before the colonialist period to the COVID-19 pandemic. The scope and depth of Russell’s work provides anyone interested in understanding the evolution of work in Canada with a narrative that captures the tremendous historical challenges and accomplishments of working Canadians. Accessibly written at a crisp pace and with an engaging style, Canada: A Working History, helps 21st Century Canadians understand the roots of working people’s current predicaments and possibilities — from deindustrialization and precarity to revitalized worker activism and renewed optimism about the future of work in Canada.
Jason Russell offers a fresh and insightful new survey of the history of work in Canada. The book's ambition is remarkable: readers get a grounding in the broad landscape of Canadian history starting from European colonization, and a keen understanding of the repeated transformations of the world of work up to the present. His analysis considers a range of complex social, economic, and political forces shaping work in Canada, including workers' efforts to organize themselves, yet his accessible prose makes the book an enjoyable read for anyone interested in labour and history.
From precolonial history (including essential discussions of colonialism and slavery) through to the present-day challenges of technological surveillance of workers, Canada, A Working History is a comprehensive overview of the history of work in what is now Canada. Jason Russell takes care to move beyond a focus on union organizations to include the role of the state, the demands of capital, and the portrayals of labour in various media. Significantly, Russell’s definition of work is not limited to paid labour, which allows him to pay much needed attention to the essential roles of women workers both domestically and outside the home. Canada, A Working History is a useful synopsis for any and all Canadian workers.
The strength of this book is its comprehensive coverage of Canadian history, comprising the full span of history for what became modern Canada... Cast’s light on the experience of ordinary people, rather than the rich and famous,
An excellent resource, especially for popular readers or as a textbook for early-year undergraduate courses, Canada: A Working History uses changing conceptions of work, working-class experiences, and moments of class-based resistance to illustrate how these factors have shaped and influenced our readings of the country’s past.
Jason Russell has a Ph.D. in history from York University and is an associate professor at SUNY Empire State College in Buffalo, New York. He lives in London, Ontario.
Introduction
PART 1: EUROPEAN ARRIVAL TO CONFEDERATION
Chapter 1: Before and After Colonization
Chapter 2: Slavery
Chapter 3: Early Work Regulation
Chapter 4: European Employers and North American Workers
Chapter 5: European Conflicts and North American Consequences
Chapter 6: The War of 1812 and the United States
Chapter 7: The 1837 Rebellions, Responsible Government, and Worker Control
Chapter 8: Domestic Work and Hard Labour
Chapter 9: Colonial Living
Chapter 10: Professions, Institutions, and Work in Early Canada
PART II: CONFEDERATION TO THE 1930s
Chapter 12: Confederation to 1914
Chapter 13: The First World War
Chapter 15: The 1930s: Economic Turmoil and Social Unrest
Chapter 16: From Confederation to Global War
PART III: THE SECOND WORLD WAR TO THE 1960s
Chapter 17: The 1940s: Once More into the Breach
Chapter 18: The 1950s: Full-Time Jobs, Consumer Culture, and Another Economic Boom
Chapter 19: The 1960s: Cultural, Political, and Economic Change
Chapter 20: The 1940s to the 1960s: A Golden Era
PART IV: THE TUMULTUOUS 1970s AND 1980s
Chapter 21: Two Decades of Transformation: The Good and the Bad
Chapter 22: The 1970s: Goodbye to the 1960s
Chapter 23: The 1980s: Almost Everything Changes
Chapter 24: One Last Big Shift Before the 1990s
PART V: THE ANXIOUS 1990s AND 2000s
Chapter 25: The 1990s: THe End of the Post–Second World War
Chapter 26: The 2000s: A Few Winners and More Losers on the Job
PART VI: WORKING IN THE 21st CENTURY
Chapter 27: Work in Canada in the Early 2020s
Chapter 28: Retirement in Canada
Chapter 29: Will We Still Work?
Chapter 30: Surveillance and Control
Chapter 31: Coming Apart
Chapter 32: Coming Together
Looking Back, Looking Forward
Acknowledgements
Notes
Index
About the Author
Notes
PART 1: EUROPEAN ARRIVAL TO CONFEDERATION
Chapter 1: Before and After Colonization
Chapter 2: Slavery
Chapter 3: Early Work Regulation
Chapter 4: European Employers and North American Workers
Chapter 5: European Conflicts and North American Consequences
Chapter 6: The War of 1812 and the United States
Chapter 7: The 1837 Rebellions, Responsible Government, and Worker Control
Chapter 8: Domestic Work and Hard Labour
Chapter 9: Colonial Living
Chapter 10: Professions, Institutions, and Work in Early Canada
PART II: CONFEDERATION TO THE 1930s
Chapter 12: Confederation to 1914
Chapter 13: The First World War
Chapter 16: From Confederation to Global War
PART III: THE SECOND WORLD WAR TO THE 1960s
Chapter 17: The 1940s: Once More into the Breach
Chapter 18: The 1950s: Full-Time Jobs, Consumer Culture, and Another Economic Boom
Chapter 19: The 1960s: Cultural, Political, and Economic Change
Chapter 20: The 1940s to the 1960s: A Golden Era
PART IV: THE TUMULTUOUS 1970s AND 1980s
Chapter 21: Two Decades of Transformation: The Good and the Bad
Chapter 22: The 1970s: Goodbye to the 1960s
Chapter 23: The 1980s: Almost Everything Changes
Chapter 24: One Last Big Shift Before the 1990s
PART V: THE ANXIOUS 1990s AND 2000s
Chapter 25: The 1990s: THe End of the Post–Second World War
Chapter 26: The 2000s: A Few Winners and More Losers on the Job
PART VI: WORKING IN THE 21st CENTURY
Chapter 27: Work in Canada in the Early 2020s
Chapter 28: Retirement in Canada
Chapter 29: Will We Still Work?
Chapter 30: Surveillance and Control
Chapter 31: Coming Apart
Chapter 32: Coming Together
Looking Back, Looking Forward
Acknowledgements
Notes
Index
About the Author
Notes