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CANADIAN SOCIETY

CANADIAN SOCIETY. MODERN-DAY CANADA. 2011 census: population is just under 35 million Ethnically diverse metropolitan areas, with Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver attracting about 70% of all new immigrants

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CANADIAN SOCIETY

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  1. CANADIAN SOCIETY

  2. MODERN-DAY CANADA • 2011 census: population is just under 35 million • Ethnically diverse metropolitan areas, with Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver attracting about 70% of all new immigrants • Dropping fertility rates + rising life expectancy = future problems funding social welfare and pension programs • English and French, but also Cantonese, Mandarin, Punjabi, Arabic, Spanish, Tagalog, Russian, Farsi, Tamil, Urdu, and Korean

  3. MARX, THE INDIVIDUAL AND WORK • “Man makes his life activity itself the object of his will and of his consciousness.” • In other words: • you are because you do • you are what you do • you are who you are because of what you do

  4. MARX, MONEY & POWER • Society is made up of two groups of people, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat • Bourgeoisie: powerful because they own and/or control the means of production; “haves” • Proletariat: work for the bourgeoisie and consume what the bourgeoisie’s products; “have-nots” • The bourgeoisie exploit and oppress the proletariat through capitalism • Both the government and the law are just tools that the bourgeoisie use for their own benefit

  5. MARX, THE VALUE OF LABOUR, AND ALIENATION • The value of a commodity is directly related to the cost required to produce or obtain it • Question: how much would you charge someone for a cake that you made from scratch and decorated? • Question: how much would you pay to have your uniform cleaned and ironed for you each week? • Question: how much would you charge someone to write a 12-page essay on the significance of water imagery in Hamlet? • More manufacturing = more labour = $$$$$

  6. MARX, THE VALUE OF LABOUR, AND ALIENATION • If you control the means of production, then you control access to the product via pricing

  7. MARX, THE VALUE OF LABOUR, AND ALIENATION • The bourgeoisie gained control over the means of production (via the Industrial Revolution); they do not want to give up control • How to maintain power over the proletariat? • Alienation: separating the worker from the finished product • Alienation achieved through specialization of labour: hire and/or train a worker to do only part of the job really well • Bourgeoisie bonus: specialization also makes workers more efficient!

  8. MARX, THE VALUE OF LABOUR, AND ALIENATION • Powerlessness of the proletariat increases when jobs become so specialized that machines can take over • You would have to pay ONE worker a lot of money to build an entire car; that worker will build that car with care • You can pay less money to a bunch of individual workers to build one car; those workers will not care very much about the car • If you can automate the entire car-making process, you save money • Complete alienation of the proletariat from the production process; growing divide between bourgeoisie and proletariat – money AND power

  9. LABOUR, ALIENATION, & THE INDIVIDUAL • Mechanizing simple tasks helps people: • prevents injury • frees up time for people to find meaningful work • If a person’s work can be done by a machine: • that person will be paid less • that person will feel devalued in society • that job will become devalued

  10. LABOUR, ALIENATION, & THE INDIVIDUAL • Therefore, in order to be considered successful today, one must be highly skilled: • Greater importance to the community • Higher social status within society • Increased number of social benefits • Society values the highly-skilled individual more so than it does the rest of the population

  11. One’s social class position determines one’s entire fate.

  12. ANTONIO GRAMSCI and CULTURAL HEGEMONY • Please read Challenge and Change: Patterns, Trends, and Shifts in Society, pp. 105-106 • Make point form notes on this section, add to your current note

  13. INTERNAL DRIVES: FREUD vs. DURKHEIM • Freud looked at different states of consciousness & natural state to seek pleasure (ruled by unconscious) • Durkheim was interested in conscious internal and societal motivators • Anomie: what people experience when they are unsure of society’s norms and expectations

  14. ORGANIC SPECIALIZATION & ANOMIE • Organic specialization: workers perform specific tasks for the benefit of the entire system • Like an organ in the body • Organic specialization causes anomie: • Workers are isolated by the specificity of their jobs • No shared work experience = no strong personal bonds • No social interaction  social rules not transmitted  social norms break down • Result: dissatisfaction, conflict, deviance • If you think the world of work is bad, imagine the anomie of an unemployed individual

  15. FREUD & DEFENCE MECHANISMS • When we experience stress – whether financial, emotional, or other – we use defence mechanisms to deal with the problem • Unconscious response • Allows our minds to hide or distort a problem so that it stops consciously bothering us • Protects the ego from having to deal with shame, anxiety, and other uncomfortable/unacceptable feelings or thoughts

  16. 10 DEFENCE MECHANISMS • COMPENSATION: making up for weakness in one area by excelling in another • DENIAL: refusing to acknowledge the problem • DISPLACEMENT: taking out impulses on a less threatening target • ESCAPISM: fantasizing to escape reality • IDENTIFICATION: taking on the roles of others • MINIMIZING: “writing off” problems as being too minor to worry about

  17. 10 DEFENCE MECHANISMS • PROJECTION: putting your own faults onto someone else • RATIONALIZATION: using an excuse to cope with a problem • REACTION FORMATION: when a belief of yours causes you anxiety, you adopt the opposing belief • REGRESSION: reverting to immature behaviour to express your emotions • SUBLIMATION: acting out unacceptable impulses in a socially acceptable way

  18. WHAT’S YOUR DEFENCE MECHANISM?

  19. INSTINCT • Although the human brain has evolved to allow us to think rationally, creatively, and abstractly, we still retain our most primitive survival instincts • Stressors can still trigger our fight or flight response • Different people have different threshold stress tolerances • The way we act out our primal instincts varies from one person to the next

  20. What’s your instinctual reaction to a stressor?

  21. SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF IDEAS • Social organization necessary as society becomes complex • Rules & expectations necessary for stability • How does one change these rules and expectations? • Who has the power to make change happen in society, and from whence does that power come?

  22. WORK • Max Weber (Sociologist): around the beginning of the 1900s, noticed that society’s relationship to work was changing: • Paid work evolved to become a means of distinguishing the worker as a successful individual • Wealth accumulation became an important goal • In general, life started to revolve around the idea of producing, consuming, and increasing personal wealth

  23. EARN MORE $$$ ELEVATE LIFESTYLE SPEND MORE TIME AT WORK TO PAY FOR LIFESTYLE

  24. Identification & Priorities • Worker ensures family is looked after during work hours • If need to work more, need to extend childcare • Earning more leads to elevated spending lifestyle • To pay for lifestyle need to earn more • Family gains benefit of increased income but suffers due to reduction in time spent together

  25. LEARNED BEHAVIOUR:NOT JUST WITH CLOWNS • Please read Challenge and Change: Patterns, Trends, and Shifts in Society, p. 114 • Answer all three questions at the bottom of the page

  26. INEQUALITY, GENDER AND RACE • The increasing specialization of labour, coupled with the consumption-oriented lifestyle, helped institutionalize gender inequality • Positions of power in modern-day Canadian society continue to be male dominated, and heldpredominantly by Caucasians • 1986: Employment Equity Act instituted in Canada • Goal: remove barriers to employment for • women • visible minorities • Aboriginals • people with disabilities

  27. TOP-EARNING CEOs (CDN), 2012 • Frank Stronach, Magna (Ex-Chair/Ex-CEO): $40,984,820 • Michael Pearson, Valeant Pharmaceuticals: $36,308,716 • Robert A. Quartermain, Pretium Resources Inc.: $16,908,729 • Bradley Shaw, Shaw Communications Inc.: $15,851,336 • Ned Goodman, Dundee Corp.: $15,037,835 • Rick George, Suncor Energy Inc.: $14,857,818 • Donald Walker, Magna International Inc.: $14,836,948 • Gerald Schwartz, Onex Corp.: $14,133,703 • Robert Friedland, Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.: $12,574,305 • Peter Marrone, Yamana Gold Inc.: $12,416,999 • William Downe, Bank of Montreal: $11,420,242 • Edmund Clark, Toronto-Dominion Bank: $11,380,730 • Keith A. Carrigan, (Ex-CEO) Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. $11,171,130 • Gordon Nixon, Royal Bank of Canada: $11,171,129 • Charles Jeannes, Goldcorp Inc.: $11,117,750

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