Hollow Work, Hollow Society

Globalization and the Casual Labour Problem in Canada

Dave Broad

More and more people in Canada and other Western countries are now working at part-time, short-term and other casual jobs. People are now asking: What happened to full-time employment? Why is part-time work being promoted by business people and politicians as a positive thing? Situated historically, the restructuring of global capital and labour markets does not paint such a rosy picture. This book explains the contemporary casualization of work as integral to global economic restructuring. Hence, the increase in casual work is not simply a reflex of the expansion of the service sector, or of women’s post-second world war re-entry into paid employment, but is tied to a business agenda aimed at improving corporate profitability and controlling labour. A discussion of more democratic alternatives to the hollow society concludes the book.

Contents

• 1. The Casual Labour Problem 
• 2. The Casual Labour Market Today 
• 3. Casual Labour and the History of Women’s Work 
• 4. Globalization, Industrial Restructuring and Labour 
• 5. Towards the Hollow Society?

About the Author

Dave Broad is a Professor of Social Policy in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Regina, Saskatchewan. His publications include (with Ron Bourgeault) 1492-1992: Five Centuries of Imperialism and Resistance; (with Wayne Antony) Citizens Or Consumers? Social Policy in a Market Society; and Hollow Work, Hollow Society? Globalization and the Casual Labour Problem.