Class and Community in Canadian Welfare Work, 1933-1960

Abstract

Between 1933 and 1965, increasing participation by organized labour in private charity, and, in particular the federated appeals, was part of a conscious remaking of class relationships and their social meanings. Engineered during and after World War II by labour and social work leaders, this exercise entailed redescribing “charity” to minimize conflicts over material relief and to emphasize the “feminine” aspects of social service. It also involved having working-class people serve as peers in the leadership structure of social agencies. More than just a pragmatic alliance founded on a shared policy agenda, this labour-social work co-operation was an exercise in reconciling, in an egalitarian way, cultural differences of class with community belonging.

Ailsa Craig Boys' Farm: A "pioneering institution," 1954-70

“…Along with this emphasis, it appears that the Farm's Advisory Council and workers attempted to re-masculinize what had become the feminine side of the Canadian welfare enterprise (Tillotson 1997: 69; see also Rooke and Schnell 1983: 408-10). Tillotson argues that the 1940s transformation of child care to the public dimension legislated by numerous new social policies gave the masculine domain control in what had been formerly a female area.…”