Thomas R. Klassen

Different Perceptions of Race in Education: Racial Minority and White Teachers

We analyze the perceptions of White and racial minority teachers concerning antiracist education in the Toronto Board of Education. The findings highlight five topics on which White and racial minority teachers have different perspectives: views of antiracist educa- tion; support for employment equity; racial minority teachers as role models; the role of principals in antiracist education; and the treatment of racial minority teachers. Racial minority teachers face greater barriers than White teachers in the education system, barriers that hamper the full recognition and importance of racial diversity in education. White teachers are generally less supportive than their racial minority colleagues of antiracist education that attempts to shape the institutional culture of schools. Les auteurs analysent les perceptions des enseignants de race blanche et des enseignants faisant partie des minorites raciales au sujet de l’education antiraciste du Conseil scolaire de Toronto. Les conclusions de cette etude mettent en relief cinq sujets sur lesquels les points de vue des enseignants de race blanche et de ceux des minorites raciales different: les perceptions de l’education antiraciste, le soutien accorde a l’equite en matiere d’em- plois, les enseignants des minorites raciales comme modeles de comportement, le role des directeurs d’ecole dans l’education antiraciste, et la facon dont sont traites les enseignants des minorites raciales. Ces derniers font face a des obstacles plus grands que les ensei- gnants de race blanche, des obstacles qui retardent la reconnaissance complete de l’impor- tance de la diversite raciale dans l’education. En regle generale, les enseignants de race blanche sont, par rapport a leurs collegues faisant partie des minorites raciales, moins en faveur de l’education antiraciste qui essaie de faconner la culture institutionnelle du systeme d’education.

Gambling Against the State: The State and the Legitimation of Gambling:

Gambling has come to be legitimated in many western countries since the reintroduction of lotteries as methods of revenue generation for the state in the 1960s and 1970s. Since then, state-sanctioned gambling opportunities have expanded to include casino games, sports betting, video lottery terminals, scratch and win games and others as governments seek to increase revenues. The article analyses the state’s role in the legitimation, expansion and marketing of gambling activities, and discusses the major cultural and ideological implications of this development. It argues that this legitimation must be seen in the context of broader social and economic forces related to the deregulation of markets. The legitimation of gambling illustrates the shift in social and economic morality away from the ‘rational’ basis of capitalism in Protestant ethics, and towards the deregulation of economic attitudes. While this shift suggests a further rationalizing of economic activity and attitudes, the analysis of the broader cultural implications illustrates the tension between the rational and irrational forces in late capitalism. The article focuses on developments in western countries, but state-sanctioned gambling is expanding in non-western countries as well.

PERCEPTIONS OF PEOPLE WHO STUTTER: RE-ASSESSING THE NEGATIVE STEREOTYPE '

A common finding of past research is that people who stutter are stereotyped as being more guarded, nervous, self-conscious, tense, sensitive, hesitant, introverted, and insecure than nonstutterers. Using an innovative survey method, two questions studied were (1) whether individuals who have on going contact with the same stutterer share the negative stereotype identified by past research, and (2) whether there are differences in perceptions of speech fluency between stutterers and their listeners. Responses of 114 friends and colleagues of stutterers found those who had on-going contact with at least one stutterer have less stereotypical attitudes than the general population, and significant differences in perceptions about normalcy of speech were noted for people who stutter and those with whom they interact.

Partisanship, Globalization, and Canadian Labour Market Policy: Four Provinces in Comparative Perspective

Acknowledgments Part 1: Context * Partisanship, Globalization, and Political-Economic Institutions in Labour Market Policy-Making * Welfare State, Production Regime, and Party System in Four Canadian Provinces * Historical and Federal Context of Canadian Labour Market Policy Part 2: Case Studies * Ontario: Policy Continuity amid Institutional Uncertainty * Quebec: Legacies of Political-Economic Distinctiveness * British Columbia: Right Hegemony in a Polarized Liberal Polity * Alberta: One-Party Dominance and Neo-liberalism * Social Assistance and Employment: An Anomaly? Part 3: Reflection * A Perspective from Abroad: Coordinative Institutions and Labour Market Reform in Germany STEFFEN SCHNEIDER * Conclusion: Stepping Back and Looking Forward Appendix: Criteria for Rating Labour Market Policy Change Notes Index

Casino State: Legalized Gambling in Canada

In contrast to Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom, gambling legally in Canada requires interacting directly and nearly exclusively with government—interacting not only with government as regulator and tax collector as usual, but also government as developer, marketer, profit maximizer, consumer protector, social investor (especially in First Nations), and in extremis, gambling counselor. To an extent not possible elsewhere in the Anglophone world (except perhaps on military bases), most of the social ledger for gambling falls under one roof; provincial government in Canada is both the residual claimant of profit-maximization in the casinos and lotteries as well as the bearer of ancillary harms. Also in contrast to these countries, Canada has not convened a national commission to review the consequences of its two-decade explosion in gambling.

Intergovernmental Relations Post-devolution: Active Labour Market Policy in Canada and the United Kingdom 1996–2006

Devolution of active labour market policy has been pursued by both the Canadian and UK governments during the past decade and, as a result, new intergovernmental relationships have developed. These are compared, focusing in particular on relationships between the Government of Canada and the Government of the province of Alberta, and the UK Government and the Scottish Executive. The analysis concludes that intergovernmental relations and the workability of the intergovernmental relations system in the two countries are fundamentally different. This is due to distinct features in the structure of the state (the constitution, the number of sub-state governments and the asymmetry between them, how finances are shared, and how power is divided), and in the governing structure for active labour market policy (the degree of decentralization, the power of central government to act, the involvement of actors external to government, and the operation of the intergovernmental machinery) in each country. It is also due to the continued presence in the UK, during the period of this research, of two powerful forces of intergovernmental accommodation not found in Canada—a unitary party system and unified civil service.

Similar Challenges, Different Solutions: Reforming Labour Market Policies in Germany and Canada during the 1990s

Canada and Germany experienced considerable economic challenges and political shocks during the 1990s. High unemployment and regional labour market disparities raised concerns about the adequacy of labour market policies in both countries. Yet despite similar challenges, the two federations pursued different reform paths. Unemployment insurance programs were only marginally changed in each nation. With regard to active labour market policies, however, Canada pursued an asymmetrical decentralization granting more power to the provinces, while Germany reinforced its corporatist mechanisms. Explaining the different reform paths requires consideration of a range of variables including the contrast between Germanys intrastate and Canadas interstate federalism.

Partisanship, Institutions and Public Policy: The Case of Labour Market Policy in Ontario, 1990–2000

For historical institutionalist scholarship, partisanships impact on public policy is mediated by institutions; however there is disagreement about whether globalization has altered this nexus. In view of the importance of labour market policy for the equity and efficiency objectives of left– and right–wing parties, it is particularly significant as a domain for testing partisanships continuing relevance. This article examines the link between partisanship and policy outcomes, using the case of labour market policy in Ontario during the 1990s as its point of reference. It concludes that, in relation to three selected aspects of this field, institutions affected left– and right–wing partisan agendas quite differently, but that globalization has not transformed this relationship in recent years. Because of inter–sectoral institutional variations, this conclusion cannot be extended to other policy domains without further research.

Reforms of Retirement Policies: Three Common Paths in Aging in Japan and Korea

ABSTRACT Faced with an unparalleled rate of population aging, Japan and Korea have been reforming their retirement policies. To date, however, while the age of mandatory retirement has increased, employees continue to face significant decreases in compensation and other working conditions, typically at age 60 in Japan and age 55 in Korea. Three factors have contributed to shaping the path of the policy reforms in both the countries, including (1) the productivist welfare regimes, (2) the structure of the labor market for young workers, and (3) seniority-based wage and compensation systems.

Precarious Values: Organizations, Politics and Labour Market Policy in Ontario

The global economy and technological changes have dramatically altered the nature of labour markets. In this context, sub-national governments play an increasingly important role in labour market policy. In Canada, for instance, provinces have extensive powers to help the unemployed and those on social assistance to move into the labour market. Precarious Values analyses the efforts of three Ontario governments in the 1980s and 1990s, led by three different political parties, to design organizations and policies to help the unemployed acquire vocational skills. Thomas Klassen focuses on the birth, life, and eventual decline of two sizeable organizations created to develop strategic labour market policy for the province. The first was a traditional government department, while the second was an ambitious agency that gave business and labour groups control of a budget of over half a billion dollars. Both organizations faced fundamental disagreements over the role of the state, as well as intergovernmental conflicts and animosity between stakeholders.