Alan Sears

The “Lean” State and Capitalist Restructuring: Towards a Theoretical Account

This paper is an exploratory work that draws together literature on lean production and on the welfare state. The aim is to develop a framework that might be useful in further research on changes in social policy.

Negotiating sexual relationships after testing HIV‐positive

Drawing on in-depth interviews with 60 people with HIV disease and 40 of their caregivers, this article reports on the effects of HIV seropositivity on sexual interaction and relationship formation. Using a sample representing gay and heterosexual, black and white, and male and female respondents, we focus on how people in the syndrome account for, cope with, and work through problems associated with HIV. While disengagement from sexuality is common, at least initially, many respondents successfully readjusted the mutual understandings of ongoing relationships or went on to develop new ones, often with seronegative people. Further, we compare the experiences of those already in relationships when they test HIV-positive to those seeking new relationships and discuss problems of disclosure and safer sex, with notes on the responses and perceptions of HIV-negative sexual partners.

Immigration Controls as Social Policy: The Case of Canadian Medical Inspection 1900–1920

The regulation of immigration has been one of the major social policy instruments employed by capitalist states. Immigration controls and social programs are among the most important means through which states attempt to regulate the size and character of national populations. Yet there has been a tendency to examine the history of immigration controls separately from that of social welfare programs. This article represents a preliminary attempt to connect the two within the framework of a Marxist theory of state regulation of the social reproduction of the working class.

The Palestine Test: Countering the Silencing Campaign

In his recent book The Israel Test, George Gilder argued that “the central issue in international politics, dividing the world into two fractious armies, is the tiny state of Israel.”1 One does not need to buy Gilder’s particular argument about Israel’s unique contribution to capitalist innovation to recognize the importance of Palestine/Israel in contemporary world politics. The global impact of Palestine/Israel is echoed by its prominence in the immediate politics of our campuses and communities.