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Cet article aborde la question des alliances entre les mouvements sociaux au moyen d'une étude sur la possibilité d'une convergence ou d'une alliance entre deux des mouvements sociaux les plus stables en Ontario au cours des trois dernières décennies: la santé et la sécurité au travail (SST) et les mouvements environnementaux. Les deux mouvements ont non seulement duré, mais ils ont été couronnés de succès. Aujourd'hui, cependant, chaque mouvement est fractionné et au repos. Les développements politiques récents poussent plusieurs activistes des mouvements ouvriers ou de la SST à réclamer une alliance avec les mouvements environnementaux. L'auteur soutient que, bien qu'il existe un bénéfice pour les deux mouvements en de telles entreprises, des différences de classes continuelles entre ces deux mouvements militent contre toute alliance durable. This article addresses the issue of alliances between social movements through an investigation into the possibility of a convergence and/or alliance between two of the most enduring social movements in Ontario over the past three decades: the occupational health and safety (OHS) and the environmental movements. Both movements have not only endured, but been successful movements. Presently, however, each movement is fragmented and becalmed. Recent political developments are leading many OHS/labour movement activists to argue for an alliance with environmental movements. I argue that while there is benefit to both movements in such undertakings, continuing class differences between these two movements militates against any enduring alliance.

Recently Geoffrey Miller has suggested that humor evolved through sexual selection as a signal of "creativity," which in turn implies youthfulness, intelligence, and adaptive unpredictability. Drawing upon available empirical studies, I argue that the evidence for a link between humor and creativity is weak and ambiguous. I also find only tenuous support for Miller's assumption that the attractiveness of the "sense of humor" is to be found in the wittiness of its possessor, since those who use the phrase often seem to associate it with the affects of relatively mirthless "bonding" laughter. Humor, I conclude, may have evolved as an instrument for achieving broad social adhesiveness and for facilitating the individual's maneuverability within the group, but that it evolved through sexual selection has yet to be convincingly demonstrated.

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