'It doesn’t always do justice to people’: Neoliberalism’s Reorganization of Social Service Delivery in Ontario

Abstract

Guided by institutional ethnography and labour process theory, this project explores the ways in which the discourses and practices of neoliberal austerity organize the work experiences of frontline social service providers and workers' various forms of resistance to this restructuring. Managerialist practices of accreditation and evidencebased practice appear to reorient service provision away from relational, social justice oriented work and community building, redistributing workers' time and energy to administrative practices involved in assessments, evaluations, and performance measurements. These ongoing changes take a toll on worker mental wellbeing and present challenges to the sustainability of social service provision by increasing workloads and limiting workers' access to support. While these changes in work processes present some challenges in workers' relationships with management and one another, they also open up new spaces to demonstrate solidarity and to work together to resist the neoliberalization of the sector.iii Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible with out the support of my friends and supervisors who often believed in me more than I believed in myself.In particular, I would like to thank James Bray for spending countless hours helping me edit and polish my writing, for ensuring that I always had something nutritious to eat, and for providing an incredible amount of emotional support, without which I would not have been able to finish.I also need to thank so many of my friends who graciously endured hours of discussion about this project and never failed to demonstrate their unending support for me. Thank you to my roommate, Ames Mannseichner, for making me delicious meals, for always being on-hand with reassuring words, and for tolerating the stacks of books and papers left lying around the house for months as I focused on my writing. Thank you to Emily Hopwood for providing me with a much-needed distraction from my writing and for bringing me such thoughtful care packages. Thank you to Kammy Willbond for helping me find the motivation and energy to write during our study sessions together when I didn't have enough on my own. Thank you to Evan Read Armstrong, the funniest person in the world, for always making me laugh and for displaying a reassuring, though I maintain unwarranted, degree of confidence in my abilities when I needed it most. I am very privileged to have such great people in my life.Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my supervisors, Dr. Dan Irving and Dr. Susan Braedley, for all the time they contributed to this project, for providing me with many rounds of feedback and for balancing that feedback with much-needed reassurance and emotional support. This project would never have been possible without their intellectual and emotional support.iv