Guy Fréchet

The Ecological Movements in the Light of Social Movements' Development

Social movements are difined as a form of collective action seeking a global social change. The ecological movements, to which some attention is paid here, have already worked to initiate social change, but the grass-roots movements are confronted with difficult choices in order to insure the maintenance and reinforcement of the link between ideas and concrete actions. Those movements have gone through distinct integration phases in four societies (France, the former Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), Quebec, and the U.S.A.). The structural integration phase has been characterized by the differentiation process, as well of the problems as of the groups themselves, and by the institutionalization process. The political and cultural integration phases have been characterized by the passage, at various degrees, through the electoral process and the legitimation process.

Précarité de l’emploi et scolarisation moyenne au Canada

Les personnes moyennement scolarisees, selon leur appartenance a deux des categories medianes de la scolarisation, sont apparues comme etant les plus affectees par la precarite de l’emploi. Cette precarite est estimee ici par le rapprochement dans le temps des transitions (ex.: emploi-chomage) sur le marche du travail. Tant pour le revenu moyen que pour les avantages en emploi, de meme que pour leur cheminement sur le marche du travail, elles apparaissent comme etant defavorisees. Contrairement a l’idee generalement recue selon laquelle la scolarisation et la situation en emploi vont de pair, les personnes moyennement scolarisees sont dans une situation moins enviable que ce que leur position hierarchique pourrait leur permettre d’esperer. Une tendance vers l’affaissement du centre semble poindre a l’horizon et pourrait conduire a une forme de bipolarisation. People with the least formal education are most likely to be affected by uncertainty of employment, as judged by time between jobs, or by the length of other transitions in the labour market. Low educational attainment has a negative effect on income, benefits, and access to the labour market. Contrary to the general belief that schooling and working conditions are linked, modestly schooled persons are in a less enviable situation than their position in the social hierarchy might lead them to expect. The shrinking of the educational “middle” may thus lead to social polarization.

New Technology at Work

A discussion of the social and economic impact of new technology on the organization of work. It concentrates on microelectronics, but also takes account of movement in overall occupational structure and level of employment, questions of management control and worker participation, and changes in the organizational structure of business. Introductory courses in work organization in departments of sociology, economics, business, industrial relations and engineering.