Graham S. Lowe

The Impact of Working Conditions, Social Roles, and Personal Characteristics on Gender Differences in Distress.

This article analyzes gender differences in employee distress. Work stress has been studied differently for males and females. For males, the predominant focus has been on job conditions; for employed women, the focus has usually been on the multiple demands of domestic and work roles. In this analysis, we combine both approaches, examining the effects of working conditions, nonwork roles, and personal characteristics on self-reports of depression, irritability, and psychophysiological symptoms. Our study population consists of 992 Canadian postal workers, about half of whom are female. We find that males and females respond similarly to stressful jobs, although women tend to report slightly higher levels of distress. Regression analysis reveals that, while gender does exert a small but significant net effect, perceived job characteristics—especially receiving competing demands and the degree of variety and challenge—are the best predictors of distress. Nonwork social roles have no significant effect on distress.

Organizing the Next Generation: Influences on Young Workers’ Willingness to Join Unions in Canada

This paper argues that union attitudes and behaviour are important but neglected features of the school–work transition process. Using longitudinal panel data from a study of high school and university graduates in three Canadian cities, we examine how young people’s previous union membership, attitudes and educational, labour market and workplace experiences shape their willingness to join unions. This paper establishes that views about unions are emergent during youth, solidifying with age and experience. The implications of these findings for industrial relations, school–work transitions research and labour movement organizing are discussed.

Public attitudes towards unions: Some Canadian evidence

Despite a growing body of research on attitudes towards unions in the U.S. and, to a lesser extent Britain, surprisingly little is known about this topic in Canada. We attempt to fill this gap by examining data from a survey of 736 randomly selected residents of the western Canadian cities of Winnipeg and Edmonton. We find a high degree of latent unionism among non-unionized labor force members: 40 percent would join a union if one existed in their workplace. Union attitudes are better predictors of willingness to join than are demographic and socioeconomic variables, although we can predict instrumental beliefs about unions with some accuracy using such objective measures.

Recent trends in public support for unions in Canada

This paper investigates trends in public support for unionism during the 1980s. Comparing data from two western Canadian cities in 1981 and 1987, we examine the impact of the recession of the early 1980s on public perceptions of the role of unions, whether the differences between cities documented during 1981 had increased or decreased by 1987, and if “hard times” had resulted in more nonunion employees expressing a willingness to join a union. There is little evidence of growing support for negative “big labor” opinions about unions in the two cities. Despite a well-publicized labor dispute involving the use of strikebreakers in one city, there was no increase in support for legislation restricting the practice. Residents in the same city, however, were significantly more likely to agree with “business unionism” sentiments, an opinion trend accompanied by a growing willingness to join a union.

Explanations of Unemployment in Canada

A random sample survey of residents of Edmonton, Canada reveals structural and individualistic explanations of unemployment to be equally prominent. Various indicators of social standing have little impact on these beliefs, and the unemployed differ from the employed only when the beliefs directly blame deficient work values of the unemployed. Since other studies elsewhere have found more pronounced differences by position in the stratification system, some possible cultural variations in public opinion about unemployment are discussed. Public opinion about unemployment can influence the responses of government and other agencies involved in dealing with the problem (Graetz, 1987; Kluegel, 1987: 82). It could also influence how the jobless themselves respond to their situation (Furnham, 1984; Kelvin and Jarrett, 1985). Widespread belief that unemployment is a product of individual failure might encourage the unemployed to blame themselves and accept their disadvantage (Shepelak, 1987). Alternatively, to the extent that the unemployed see their problem as shared by others and place the blame for it on government and industry, political action could result (Feagin, 1975; Schlozman and Verba, 1979). Hence, public explanations of unemployment deserve careful scrutiny. Several British studies (Furnham, 1982; Furnham and Lewis, 1986: 150) and a recent analysis of Australian national survey data (Graetz, 1987: 328) have concluded that there is greater public support for structural than for z*ndividuatz’stic explanations of unemployment’ Such findings are somewhat at odds with the dominant individualistic ethic of capitalist societies (Feagin, 1975; Smith, 1985). In fact, Golding and Middleton’s (1982: 168) British study reported structural explanations of unemployment to be no more common than explanations focusing on individual deficits. While no British or Australian studies have gone so far as to conclude that individualistic explanations predominate, some pieces of evidence hint that this might be the case in the U.S.A. Feather (1974) found that Americans were more inclined than were Australians to favour individualistic explanations of poverty. Schlozman and Verba (1979: 192) examined national survey data and concluded that there was &dquo;an * Colin Fraser and participants in the 1986 University of Cambridge unemployment seminars provided helpful comments on an earlier draft.