Browsing by Author "Conway, John"

Now showing 1 - 16 of 16

Open Access
An examination of the need for pay equity legislation in Saskatchewan.
(Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina, 2003) Kilbride, Joel A.; Conway, John
Open Access
Brewing Identity: Fair-Trade Coffee, Image, Style and Consumerism in Late Capitalism
(Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina, 2014-05) Gordon, Brian Jeffery; Magnan, Andre; Conway, John; Enoch, Simon; Rogers, Randal
Since the collapse of the International Coffee Agreement in 1989 the production of coffee has been in crisis. Small holders struggle to survive at even a subsistence level following the deregulation of the coffee industry and the subsequent increased control of the value-chain by buyers and roasters. Fair Trade is seen as one way of increasing the amount small producers are paid for their product. The recent explosion of ``relationship coffees`` has helped a number of small producers, but is increasingly now used as a marketing and branding device for Fair Trade and traditional coffee companies alike. The symbolic nature of Fair Trade coffee has been used to differentiate coffees, as well as extract greater value from the raw product. The strategies used to market Fair Trade coffee are increasingly visual in nature, and use producers’ lives and surrounding landscapes as semiotic lifestyle signifiers for first world consumers. In this way consumption is privileged and producers’ lives are deemed knowable, and thus become part of economic exchange. The visual, semiotic nature of consumption often distorts the reality of most small coffee producers, while at the same time re-enforcing the hegemony of consumerism in consuming countries. In this way Fair Trade coffee is an excellent example of symbolic exchange built on a material base: a most salient feature of the late-capitalist order. Using the social constructivist approach and semiotic textual analysis, this thesis explores how meaning is created through this process, and the propensity for people to buy products imbued with symbolic cultural capital in late capitalism. Consumers now purchase signs and symbols that signify membership in a certain group. In order to uncover mechanisms that allow for the commoditization of caring, ethics, or environmentalism, with reference to Fair Trade coffee, images are analyzed using semiotic textual analysis. This is accompanied by an overview of consumption and production in this current regime of accumulation. Deconstruction of images allows for semiotic connections to be made between the production of coffee and the identity building symbolic nature of late-capitalist consumption. This analysis of photographic images used to market Fair Trade coffee it is discovered that meaning making is a highly complex process in late-capitalism, and increasingly relies on detached visual signifiers in widely disseminated images in advertising. These mechanisms have ramifications for politics in the broadest sense, as individual acts of consumption come to replace actual political debate, engagement, and policy.
Open Access
The Caregiver Program: How Social Relations of Childcare are Reconfigured to the Detriment of Canadian Women
(Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina, 2016-07) Fathi, Stephanie; Jurdi, Rozzet; Fletcher, Amber; Conway, John
A gendered lens helps highlight the underlying asymmetrical power relations within the economy for marginalized groups. Using a feminist political economy (FPE) approach under a critical realist paradigm, it is argued that the Caregiver Program (CP) reconstructs social relations of childcare, thereby creating gender, race, and class divisions. This reconfiguration is examined in past domestic work immigration and childcare policies to demonstrate escalating neoliberal ideals. The theoretical framework provided by a feminist analysis of social reproduction helps uncover how the CP supports privatization, individualization, familialization, and commoditization. The consequences of these transformations are grave, which includes upholding the gendered division of labour, supporting the double burden for women, and intensifying inequality in Canada. Dismantling the CP in favour of a more socially-just policy would challenge these unequal responsibilities for caregiving. The proposed national childcare framework consists of increasing and redistributing existing government funding to construct state organized care based on the Quebec model. It also involves changing the existing work-related legislation to help families better balance work and family life through the implementation of an adequate structure of supporting benefits.
Open Access
The Crisis of Social Democracy in Canada
(Committee on Canadian Labour History, 1986) Conway, John
Open Access
The Depiction of Expert Women in Canadian Newspapers
(Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina, 2017-12) Kangourimollahajlou, Akram; Fletcher, Amber; Conway, John; Warren, James; Carter, Claire
This study focuses on gender inequality in representations of “expert” women in the media. Existing scholarly literature has demonstrated that, in general, women are underrepresented or portrayed as objects or victims in the media. Very little of this literature has examined depictions of “expert” women. The research is guided by this question: How are “expert” women depicted in contemporary Canadian newspapers? The methodologica l framework of the research is a mixed-methods approach using discourse analysis as methodology and content analysis as the concrete method. The data were collected from all news pages of the National Post and the Globe and Mail. Content analysis data were chosen monthly from the first day of each month of the year 2015 for both newspapers. Data for discourse analysis were selected from all issues in November 2015, since the event of Justin Trudeau’s selection of a gender-equal cabinet occurred in this period of time, putting gender, representation, and expertise at the center of a national conversation. Drawing upon the content analysis, I examined the hypothesis of the existence of gender inequality in both national newspapers. The findings confirm that there is gender disparity in newspapers’ representation. Studying news stories about Justin Trudeau’s selection of a gender-equal cabinet through discourse analysis helped to identify some particular discourses that reinforce and reproduce gender inequality—not only in the news stories but also in society more broadly.
Open Access
Fear Rises from the Dead: A Sociological Analysis of Contemporary Zombie Films as Mirrors of Social Fears
(Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina, 2013-01) Ozog, Cassandra Anne; Conway, John; Jaffe, JoAnn; Stevens, Andrew; Ruddick, Nicholas
This thesis explores three contemporary zombie films, 28 Days Later (2002), Land of the Dead (2005), and Zombieland (2009), released between the years 2000 and 2010, and provides a sociological analysis of the fears in the films and their relation to the social fears present in North American society during that time period. What we consume in entertainment is directly related to what we believe, fear, and love in our current social existence. Thus, this paper argues that the rise in popularity of zombie films, and zombies in general, is directly connected to our fears and anxieties as a culture, and that the decade 2000-2010 was one of particularly heightened social fears and apocalyptic anxieties. The theories used in this research demonstrate the cycle where our cultural beliefs and values inform our daily fears and understandings of the world, which are then represented in our entertainment and re-interpreted in our consumption of it. The films are dissected using the theories of film critic Sigfried Kracauer, political economist C.B. MacPherson, and film theorist Kirsten Moana Thompson and a process of qualitative content analysis to identify, analyze, and connect the fears in the films with those in the social climate of the decade studied. This paper argues that the drastic increase in popularity of the zombie at the turn of the millennium directly reflects major fears in the decade: of pandemics, of untrustworthy authority, and of the total collapse of social order. We need to pay special attention to our forms of entertainment, as they speak volumes about the social climate in any particular epoch in our history. We may use what we learn in future research and social analysis.
Open Access
Health care regionalization in Saskatchewan: An exercise in democracy.
(Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina, 1999) Kouri, Denise Madeleine; Conway, John; Gingrich, Paul
Open Access
Legitimation, hegemony and the media: A Gramscian account of the rise of the New Right in the United States and Canada.
(Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina, 2001) Diamantopoulos, Mitch; Conway, John
Open Access
Loosening the nailed hand: A critical analysis of the Pentecostal Movement in Mexico.
(Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina, 2000) Valenzuela, Eugenia; Stirling, R.; Conway, John
Open Access
Reconciling the Divide: An Analysis of Farmers’ Land Strategies Within the Corporate-Environmental Food Regime
(Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina, 2013-02) Rud, Helen Marie; Jaffe, JoAnn; Magnan, Andre; Conway, John; Eaton, Emily
After twenty-five years of contested change following the collapse of the mercantile-industrial food regime, a corporate-environmental food regime appears to be consolidating. The new food regime consists of two distinct yet complimentary paradigms: the Ecologically Integrated paradigm, and the Life Sciences Integrated paradigm. Through the use of in-depth interviews with organic and conventional farmers living in southern Saskatchewan, this thesis examines how the management strategies utilized by Saskatchewan farmers fit within the larger world food regime in relation to farmers’ self-described identities. This study also explores the heterogeneity of management strategies, and the consistency of these strategies with the ideologies held by the farmers. Giddens’ theory of structuration, Gramci’s theory of hegemonic discourse, and the idea of the reflexive producer are used to explain how farmers make decisions concerning agricultural strategies and how these decisions impact the larger social structure. An analysis of the interviews suggests that producers exist within the emerging food regime on a continuum between the Ecologically Integrated paradigm (alternative producers) and the Life Sciences Integrated paradigm (conventional producers). Most producers frequently utilize production strategies based on their access to markets and specific groups of consumers, and on their personal eco-strategies. These farmers often identify as “conventional” or “alternative” producers, while having beliefs or using agricultural methods that are associated with the opposing paradigm. The results of this study demonstrate the importance of community in the transfer of local knowledge, including potential alternative farming methods. This study also illustrates that Saskatchewan farmers face additional barriers in the potential for resistance against conventional agriculture due to the history of agriculture in western Canada, the lack of local processors, and the corporatization of land ownership.
Open Access
Rethinking Social Assistance Policy to Reflect Modern Socio-Economic Realities
(Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina, 2013-01) Black, Lauren Christie; Diaz, Harry (Polo); Gingrich, Paul; Conway, John; Mulvale, James
In the past four decades rapid change has characterized the modern world. The global market has permeated even the smallest of communities, and new economic, social and political realities exist. The political, economic and social factors that once contributed to the “success” of the welfare state are now radically different. The framework for addressing poverty in our society must also change. Currently, Canada addresses poverty through various welfare state initiatives, which translate into programs such as social assistance, tax credits, employment insurance and pensions. It is proposed that the current welfare state structure is addressing poverty inadequately and inefficiently, to the detriment of individuals, the economy and society at large. The framework for the social welfare state of the 1970s has become cumbersome and outdated, and yet all Canadian provinces continue to employ this ineffective model. The model is assessed as ineffective because a significant proportion of the population still accesses social assistance, yet child poverty remains an issue and there is evidence of long-term usage and re-entry to income assistance programs. Due to its design, the current social assistance model functions not so much as a short-term safety net, but as a vortex, leading to continued and repeated need for income assistance. Data presented in this paper demonstrate that a significant number of social assistance recipients re-enter the system. The current model of social assistance is serving new applicants and also a number of long-term or recurrent clients. The current welfare model is incompatible with modern employment trends and, in fact, may be increasing the need for income assistance. The state has the responsibility to meet at least the basic needs of its citizens, and there are social and economic reasons for doing so. The consequences of poverty and income disparity are harmful for all members of society. To address this, significant changes are considered for the social assistance framework. A critique of the framework provides the basis for a discussion of an alternative social policy. The following key questions are answered: 1) what factors led to the success of the welfare state during the 1970s? 2) is the current model working? 3) could it be improved? A comparison of the Canadian social, political and economic climate of various eras, and the corresponding welfare frameworks of those times, is presented. After demonstrating the evolution that has taken place, data are presented related to current poverty statistics and income assistance levels as compared to the defined threshold for poverty in Canada, the low-income cut-off. A basic income policy is proposed as an option which is then analyzed, evaluated, and shown potentially to address the socio-economic realities of the global era.
Open Access
Rural Chinese Restaurants: Current Perspectives on Family and Business Structure
(Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina, 2013-12) Yu, Julie Shu Ying; Chow, Henry P. H.; Conway, John; Diaz, Harry (Polo); Schick, Carol
Chinese immigrants have been a presence in Canada since the mid-1800s. Early immigrants faced numerous barriers due to race, limited work skills, and a lack of English-language fluency. Chinese immigrant entrepreneurism in the restaurant industry emerged as response to these barriers. Although current Chinese immigrant restaurant owners possess higher skill levels and more English-language facility, Chinese restaurant entrepreneurship continues. The restaurants allow immigrant entrepreneurs to build relationships in the communities as well as to provide a service. This research presents a current perspective on Chinese immigrant labour in the rural restaurant industry. This study addresses the role of family and the business structure in rural Chinese restaurants in Saskatchewan. This study looked at the rural entrepreneur experience, the roles of each of the family members, and business operations, in order to gain insight into the continued prevalence of rural Chinese restaurants. Eight in-depth interviews were conducted and a partial critical realist perspective was used for analyzing the data. This study explored ethnic enclaves, blocked mobility thesis, institutional completeness, and apprenticeship theory as theoretical concepts. The rural Chinese restaurateurs interviewed did not demonstrate enclave characteristics due to a lack of an ethnic Chinese population in their communities. Respondents in this study did not specify racism as a factor blocking social mobility and described a lack of experience in other industries as the major factor for staying within the restaurant business. Although racism was not viewed as a structure by respondents, this does not negate that fact that these businesses continue to operate under an ethnic model. Most respondents had immigrated to Canada with the goal of eventually operating their own restaurants. The power of the business model of rural Chinese restaurants stems from the family unit mobilizing to work for the greater success of the business. Using the family as a resource does have liabilities of self-exploitation and the loss of quality family time together. The business becomes the driving focus of the family limiting the flexibility of the family to participate in other activities. The business model has not changed over time but the motivations for operating a rural restaurant have shifted from a lack of other opportunities to a profit-seeking endeavour.
Open Access
Rural Water Governance in the Saskatchewan Portion of the Palliser Triangle: An Assessment of the Applicability of the Predominant Paradigms
(Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina, 2013-12) Warren, James William; Argue, Gregory H.; Sauchyn, David; Conway, John; Hurlbert, Margot; Sauchyn, David; Gober, Patricia
This thesis describes the paradigmatic forms of water governance and management employed by town and country communities, irrigation districts, regional pipeline systems and private water management systems in the Saskatchewan portion of the Palliser Triangle. It demonstrates that the trajectory of water policy development affecting the region since 2002, when the province developed its Safe Drinking Water Strategy, has reflected the influence of the market-based paradigm within the province’s water governance policy community. The application of policy measures that conform to the principles of the market-based water governance paradigm have failed to consistently produce the beneficial outcomes predicted by the paradigm’s advocates. The lack of consistent efficacy is apparent in outcomes related to water conservation, social equity and infrastructure financing objectives. The research demonstrates that the water management challenges facing the study communities are context specific. They are related to the hydrological and social conditions that obtain locally. In attempting to deal with social equity, conservation and infrastructure challenges, actors at the community level have found practices derived from each of the major water governance paradigms useful. Rather than attempting to apply any particular water governance template in cookie cutter fashion, policy makers need to be flexible and eclectic in their approaches to addressing the water governance and management challenges of rural communities in the Saskatchewan portion of the Palliser Triangle. One size does not fit all.
Open Access
SIPP Policy Dialogue Number 18 Spring 2008
(Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy, 2008) MacIvor, Heather; Bell, Patricia; Norman, Ken; Whyte, John D.; Ward, Lee; Marchildon, Gregory P.; Marshall, Jim; Conway, John; Rocan, Claude; Martens, Patricia J.; Kluger, Joseph; Hedlund, Dave
Last issue, I reflected a little on the meaning of the word “dialogue.” Trying to define the word “policy” much less reflecting on its deeper meanings and nuances is much more difficult in part because almost every policy practitioner has his or her own intuitive or common sense definition of the word. Scholars have hardly helped matters. I have seen entire books on public policy in which the authors do not once attempt to define what they mean by policy. This can cause serious problems in conversations about what constitutes effective public policy. We end up arguing in circles hardly realizing that our definitions of “policy” are at least partially incompatible. The stakes are high for those charged with the responsibility to initiate and implement public policy today. They are also high for those of us in the business of judging the past, keeping in mind that we ultimately assess governments on their public policy legacies – that is, what individual administrations have bequeathed to subsequent generations.
Open Access
The vision, the reality: A preliminary assessment of self-determination and Saskatchewan First Nations.
(Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina, 1997) Brass, Elisabeth Rachel; Conway, John; Gingrich, Paul
Open Access
An uncertain future: Life after glasnost and perestroika.
(1993) Conway, John
This article analyses the political and social situation in Russia after the policy of glasnost and perestroika.