The Making of Post-war Canada

About the Book

As they enter the twenty-first century, Canada's postwar baby-boomers have witnessed the consolidation of corporate capitalism, the expansion of the wage labour market, and the restructuring of industries and occupations. Recognition of such trends as they unfold is often elusive. The Making of Post-War Canada documents major social changes: women's entry into the paid labour market; a decline in fertility and family size; a preponderance of dual-earner families; the rise of the welfare state; an ageing Canadian population; increased immigration; and emerging collective claims, notably by women, Que'becois, the visible minority, and native peoples. Peter Li provides a theoretical coherence to what appear haphazard and disjointed social events, and a basis for understanding other social and demographic changes in Canadian society since 1945.

Table of Contents:
1. Social Change and Society; 1.1 Population Change in Canadian History; 1.2 The Logic of Social Change; 1.3 Social Relations of Fur Trade; 1.4 Mode of Production and Social Formation; 1.5 Capitalism and Social Change; 1.6 The Post-War Generation in Canada; 2. Corporate Capitalism in Canada; 2.1 Features of Corporate Capitalism in Canada; 2.2 Changes in Foreign Investment and Foreign Capital; 2.3 Corporate Capital; 2.4 Labour as a Commodity Under Capitalism; 2.5 The Growth of the Capitalist Labour Market; 3. The Restructuring of the Capitalist Labour Market; 3.1 Capitalist Production and Mass Consumption; 3.2 Participation of Women in the Labour Market; 3.3 Division of Labour and Scientific Management Under Corporate Capitalism; 3.4 Restructuring of Industries and Work; 3.5 Changes in the Occupational Structure; 3.6 Women and Jobs; 3.7 The Wage Economy and the Family; 4. Labour Reproduction and the Family; 4.1 Response Strategies of the Family to the Wage Economy; 4.2 Dual Earner Families, Earnings and Dept Load; 4.3 The Cost of Labour Renewal; 4.4 The Trend of Declining Fertility; 4.5 Lone-Parent Families and Other Changes in the Family; 4.6 The Wage Economy and the Family; 5. The Demographic Shift and The Welfare State; 5.1 The Demographic Shift in Canada; 5.2 The Welfare State Under Capitalism; 5.3 The Development of the Welfare State in Canada; 5.4 The Cost of the Welfare State; 5.5 The Fiscal Crisis of the State; 6. Immigration and the Recruitment of Labour and Capital; 6.1 Overview of Immigration to Canada; 6.2 Changes in Canada's Post-War Immigration Policy; 6.3 Immigration and the Skilled Labour Market; 6.4 Immigrants in the Canadian Labour Force; 6.5 Ethnic Diversity of Immigrants; 6.6 The Recruitment of Business Immigrants and International Capital; 6.7 Immigration and the Recruitment of Labour and Capital; 7. Organized Interests and Collective Claims; 7.1 Individual Rights and Social Inequality; 7.2 Gender Inequality and the Women's Movement; 7.3 Native Peoples and Aboriginal Rights; 7.4 French-Canadians and Quebec Separatism; 7.5 Visible Minorities and Multiculturalism; 7.6 Collective Rights and Political Changes; 8. Post-War Canadian Society; 8.1 Social Change and Society; 8.2 Advanced Capitalism and Capitalist Labour Markets; 8.3 Women and the Restructuring of Occupations; 8.4 Labour Reproduction and the Family; 8.5 Demographic Shift and the Welfare State; 8.6 Immigration and Labour; 8.7 Organized Interests and Collective Claims; 8.8 Canadian Society and Its Future; APPENDIX

About the Author :
Peter S. Li is Professor of Sociology at the University of Saskatchewan. He is the author of many books and journal articles, including The Chinese in Canada (1988) and Race and Ethnic Relations in Canada (1990), both published by Oxford University Press.

Review :
"Useful."--Politics