Department of Sociology Archives | Research & Innovation

Lillian Wright Maternal-Child Institute explores research from lab to community

muellerm — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 08:00:00 +0000

From the lab to community-based research is the theme of the second Lillian Wright Maternal-Child Institute at 91��ɫ.

The one-day institute, organized by Echo’s Chair in Women’s Mental Health Research in partnership with the Faculty of Health, will take place Friday, Sept. 27, from 9am to 4pm, at 280N 91��ɫ Lanes, Keele campus. Lunch will be provided. RSVP to owhchair@yorku.ca by Sept. 13.

The keynote address will be delivered by the inaugural Lillian Wright Maternal-Child Postdoctoral Fellow Chang Su, looking at the effects of life stress, social support and cultural norms on parenting styles among mainland Chinese, European-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian immigrant mothers.

The day will also feature four researchers in the field of maternal-child health and several student poster presenters, as a chance for students, faculty and community members to share and learn.

Professor Deborah Davidson of the Department of Sociology in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional studies will discuss familial and professional support during pregnancy and early motherhood for women with pre-existing diabetes. She will give a preliminary analysis of a view from the professionals in England and Canada.

Professor Nazilla Khanlou, the Echo Chair in Women’s Mental Health Research and academic lead of the Lillian Wright Maternal-Child Health Scholars Program, of the School of Nursing in the Faculty of Health, will talk about social support for immigrant mothers of children with disabilities.

Professor Tsorng-Yeh Lee of the School of Nursing will examine Chinese women’s experiences with maternity health-care services in Canada.

Professor Rebecca Pillai Riddell of the Department of Psychology will ask the question: Can pain tell us more? She will also look into understanding the relationship between early childhood mental health and parent-child immunization behaviours.

The student presenters include:

Bramilee Dhayanandhan (PhD candidate);
Michael Miceli (PhD candidate);
Jennifer Noseworthy (RN, MScN);
Monica O’Neill (masters candidate); and
Nicole Racine (PhD candidate).

For more information, visit the Echo’s Chair in Women’s Mental Health Research website.

The post Lillian Wright Maternal-Child Institute explores research from lab to community appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Popular Empire series resumes after two-year hiatus on Feb 3

fmaquito — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 10:00:00 +0000

After a two-year hiatus, the highly popular Empire series of interdisciplinary talks returns to 91��ɫ's Keele campus this Thursday. Empires II is a joint project of the Departments of Anthropology, History and Sociology in 91��ɫ's Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, and offers University community members an opportunity to participate in free talks that examine the concept of empire from a number of perspectives.

"Empires II – Empire and its Subjects" happens on Thursday, Feb. 3, from 2:30 to 4:30pm in the History Common Room, 2183 Vari Hall. This session examines the ways in which the three different departments define and approach the concept of empire as it relates to its subjects. Thursday's talk will highlight points of commonality and differences between these different disciplines.

Sociology Professor Lesley Wood will present the first portion of this three-part talk with "Policing Protest in an Age of Empire".

Left: Lesley Wood

, an anthropology professor who also teaches in the Faculty of Education, will deliver the next section of the talk with "Unsettling Racial Landscapes: 'One Hundred Men', Colonial Agricultural Workers in Post-war Rural England".

Right: Dan Yon

The talk will wrap with Daniel Bullard, a PhD student in history in 91��ɫ's Faculty of Graduate Studies. Bullard's talk is titled "Finding the Subjects of Post-Empire: One Case Study".

The goal of the talk is to help build intellectual bridges among professors and graduate students in history, anthropology and sociology, and to enrich conversations between their disciplines. All members of the University community are also invited to attend the event.

Light refreshments will be served.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin

Two 91��ɫ professors comment on divorce insurance now being offered in the United States

fmaquito — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 10:00:00 +0000

, adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, and Anne-Marie Ambert, a retired professor in 91��ɫ's Department of Sociology, both spoke to Postmedia News November 5 about divorce insurance being offered to couples in the United States. The , among other outlets:

Because the “for poorer” part of marriage vows often comes with a nasty split, couples have a new type of contract to consider: divorce insurance.

A scholar at one of Canada’s leading law schools predicts the controversial insurance, recently unveiled in the U.S., will come to be “offered widely” in this country, where nearly two in five marriages — 38 per cent — are dissolved before the 30th wedding anniversary.

. . .

James Morton, adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, predicts we’ll come to see such insurance offered broadly across Canada. He notes that a lump-sum payout upon divorce may make more sense to some people than a pre-nup — or domestic contract, as it’s called here — because judges have “broad discretion to ignore” the latter.

He’s unsure, however, of how well the product will take off.

“It’s important to make sure the insurance is worth it,” says Morton. “If the matter is not contentious and the spouses are pretty well agreed, (divorce) costs should be fairly low — say, in the $5,000 range, all included. But if the matter is contested, costs can be enormous. I’ve seen cases with legal costs exceeding a million dollars.”

Divorce expert Anne-Marie Ambert likewise expects the insurance to breach our borders, partly because of the public perception that marriage is more fragile than ever. But a report she authored last year shows there are only 221 divorces per 100,000 population now, representing a sharp decline from 362 in the late 1980s.

“If you get this (insurance), you’re really stating, ‘We’re not going to make it,’” says Ambert, a retired professor of sociology from 91��ɫ. “And let’s keep in mind that the insurance companies aren’t doing us a charity ... This really isn’t going to help those who need it most, which are poor people, or even plain middle-class people who can’t afford it either.”

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin

The post Two 91��ɫ professors comment on divorce insurance now being offered in the United States appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Immigration workshop to address issues faced by people with precarious migratory status

fmaquito — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 08:00:00 +0000

There’s a tendency to think that the problems faced by people with precarious status – temporary workers, refugee claimants, failed claimants and people without status – are not Canadian issues, but 91��ɫ sociology Professor disagrees. To shed light on the emerging body of research in this area, the Research Alliance on Precarious Status, which Goldring initiated, will present a public workshop, titled “Producing and Negotiating Precarious Migratory Status in Canada.”

The workshop will run from 9am to 5:30pm, on Thursday, Sept. 16, at the International Conference Centre, 5th Floor, 91��ɫ Research Tower, Keele campus. Anyone wishing to attend should RSVP to migrationconf@gmail with their name and institutional affiliation by Sept. 14.

Right: Professor Luin Goldring

The workshop's goal is to discuss the production, negotiation and implications of precarious status in the Canadian context, and to contribute to and inform Canadian and international debates on immigration, citizenship, social inclusion and rights.

“I think the research will highlight the vulnerability of people with precarious status,” says Goldring, co-organizer of the workshop with Professor Patricia Landolt of the University of Toronto. “There’s a tendency to think about people with precarious status as somehow different, but they’re not. People hire them all the time; they are part of our society. It’s time to start thinking about them and paying attention to these issues.”

People with precarious status encompass both legal and unauthorized status, but all are vulnerable. Goldring uses the example of temporary workers: if they complain about poor working conditions, they risk being fired and falling out of status or not being rehired. If that happens, they have limited recourse. Yet, employers are looking to hire people with precarious status.

Researchers from various disciplines from Ontario, including several from 91��ɫ, will analyze the production of precarious status in Canada, including temporary workers, failed refugee claimants and non-status. They will address the everyday experiences of people living with various forms of precarious status and analyze the negotiation of migratory status in specific institutional settings and sectors, including schooling, health care, social service provision and academic research. Invited commentators will present the key points and discuss the papers, followed by brief author responses and an open discussion.

The event’s co-sponsors include 91��ɫ’s Office of the Vice-President of Research & Innovation, , the International Network on Migration & Development, as well as 91��ɫ’s Centre for Research on Latin America & the Caribbean, Centre for Refugee Studies and Graduate Program in Sociology.

For more information, including speakers and topics, click here.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post Immigration workshop to address issues faced by people with precarious migratory status appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Professor Pat Armstrong's long-term residential healthcare study looks to improve national and international conditions

fmaquito — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 08:00:00 +0000

In Sweden, long-term care workers often have time to take patients outside for a walk. In Canada, having a patient shuffle from their room down the corridor to the dining hall is frequently considered “a walk”. It is this kind of difference in the nature of long-term care facilities from one country to the next that has prompted 91��ɫ sociology to launch a .

"There are better ways of doing many things regarding long-term residential care, more creative ways,” says Armstong. She is confident that the study will come up with ideas on how to improve conditions for workers and residents. “Long-term residences need to be a positive option, not the last resort as it now seems to be in Canada."

Armstrong says people feel shame when they have to admit a family member to a long-term care facility. “People see long-term care as a failure of themselves, their family and the health-care system. The main goal is always to keep them out of long-term care homes, rather than saying how can we make them attractive interesting places to be and work.” People are apologetic for not being able to care for their loved ones at home, but home care is not necessarily ideal either, Armstrong says. There can be issues with caregiver burnout and elder abuse, and it’s often just not a viable option as many women – still the main caregivers – work full time.

Right: Pat Armstrong

“How we treat this vulnerable population and those who provide their care is a critical indicator of our approach to equity and social justice, as well as to care,” says Armstrong. “Long-term residential care is a barometer of values and practices.” It raises questions regarding fundamental human and social rights, the role of the state, as well as the responsibilities of individuals, families and governments.

"Reimagining Long-Term Residential Care: An International Study of Promising Practices" is a seven-year project with $2.5 million in funding from the ’s program. Armstrong will lead an international team of researchers seeking to identify the most promising practices for long-term residential care, ones that treat both providers and residents with dignity and respect. The team is less interested in pointing out what’s broken in the system, than in coming up with promising practices to improve it.

Up until now, there has been little research on residential care in Canada or elsewhere that has taken this kind of approach, says Armstrong. What has been done tends to focus on issues such as patient abuse and under-staffing rather than on issues related to gender and diversity, the relationship between the conditions of work and conditions of care or on policies that will lead to quality care. Meanwhile, the need for long-term residential care in Canada is expected to grow in the face of psychiatric, chronic care and rehabilitation hospital closures, the shift in hospital focus to short-term acute care and outpatient services, and with an aging population, she says.

The research team, which includes physicians, architects, sociologists, philosophers, social workers, historians, political scientists and economists, along with representatives of competing interests, such as employers and unions, will compare practices in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Norway, Sweden and Germany. They will look at four different themes – work organization, accountability, approaches to care, and financing and ownership.

Left: An elderly woman sits by a window. Photo by Chalmers Butterfield.

In the area of work organization, researchers hope to find care models that better meet the needs and balance the rights of residents, providers, managers, families and communities. Under accountability, they are looking for structures which nurture care and inspire quality workplace relations. They will also investigate financing and ownership models to identify the contexts, regulations, funding and conditions that allow residents and providers to flourish and that ensure equitable access to quality long-term residential care.

“We’re hoping to get the pieces of a kind of mosaic to guide us to a better place for all the countries…to producing an integrated picture of long-term residential care and how to do things differently,” says Armstrong. “In many ways, the approaches to care are the most important.” In this country, the emphasis seems to be more on finances, but it is imperative that approaches to care provide a viable, desirable and equitable option for individuals, families and those who provide care. Both providers and residents need to be treated with dignity and respect in the approaches to care, she adds.

The plan is to have researchers work in all four thematic areas, not just their area of expertise, to help generate new ideas and novel ways of approaching problems. “I emphasize the ideas because we're not just thinking about the residents, but the families, the workers and the governments,” Armstrong says.

Long-term care raises many complex issues dealing with gender, diversity, aging, sexuality and providing medical care once the domain of hospitals. Typically, long-term care residents have been mostly women, currently about 80 per cent, but the number of men in care has increased. So has the number of younger people needing constant care and not served by a hospital. Most care workers are also women, many of whom are from racialized communities. Trying to find the most promising practices is not an easy task and one size will definitely not fit all, but at the same time there is much room for improvement, Armstrong says.

Armstrong, who holds a Canadian Health Services Research Foundation/Canadian Institutes of Health Research Chair in Health Services & Nursing Research, expects the project to create readily usable research.

“We hope the research will make a difference long before the project is done.”

Armstrong is a professor of sociology in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and an executive member of both the 91��ɫ Institute for Health Research and the Graduate Program in Health Policy & Equity.

By Sandra McLean, YFile writer

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post Professor Pat Armstrong's long-term residential healthcare study looks to improve national and international conditions appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Professors Armstrong and Greenberg to be named Distinguished Research Professors

fmaquito — Thu, 20 May 2010 08:00:00 +0000

This year, 91��ɫ is honouring sociology and women’s studies Professor Pat Armstrong and psychology Professor Leslie Greenberg with its highest award, Distinguished Research Professor, for their outstanding contributions to the University through research.

The title will be conferred on Armstrong at the Spring 2010 Convocation on June 16 at 10:30am and on Greenberg during the June 17 ceremony at 10:30am.

A Distinguished Research Professorship is awarded to a professor who has demonstrated scholarly achievement by sustained publication or other recognized and accepted demonstrations of sustained authoritative contributions to scholarship.

Right: Pat Armstrong

Armstrong, who is appointed to graduate programs in health, political science, science & technology, sociology and women's studies, holds a (CHSRF)/ (CIHR) Chair in Health Services. She is also a professor of sociology in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and an executive member of the 91��ɫ Institute for Health Research and the Graduate Program in Health Policy & Equity .

She recently received Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada () funding through the program to identify promising practices for understanding and organizing long-term residential health care. Armstrong's project seeks to learn from and with other countries to understand the approaches, structures, accountability practices and ownership arrangements that create conditions prompting respectful and dignified treatment for both residents and caregivers.

Another SSHRC-funded research project looks at the risks nurses face in health care, while a Canadian Institutes of Health Research-funded project compared the workplace conditions and levels of violence faced by long-term care workers to those in Nordic countries.

She has authored, co-authored or co-edited over 20 books, including , , and .

Armstrong chairs Women & Health Care Reform, a working group that crosses the Centres of Excellence for Women's Health, and is acting co-director of the National Network on Environments & Women’s Health. She is currently a principal of the Ontario Training Centre in Health Services & Policy Research, a board member of the 91��ɫ Institute for Health Research, and has served as both chair of the Department of Sociology at 91��ɫ and director of the School of Canadian Studies at Carleton.

In addition, Armstrong has served as an expert witness in more than a dozen cases heard before bodies ranging from the federal court to federal human rights tribunals on issues related to women’s health-care work and to pay equity.

Left: Leslie Greenberg

(PhD ’76), appointed to the Graduate Program in Psychology, is among the pioneers and is primary developer of emotion-focused therapy (EFT) for individuals and for couples, which is based on the findings that emotions influence thought and behaviour. It is a psychotherapy technique that promotes the resolution of unpleasant emotions by working with them rather than suppressing or avoiding them. Greenberg is interested in couple and individual therapy using EFT, as well as examining how people deal with unresolved emotions and how that affects their ability to forgive. In recent years, he has used EFT to help couples when one person has had an affair. He is also interested in how EFT can help people with depression.

EFT is now recognized as evidence-based treatment for depression as well as couple conflict, and there is also growing evidence of its effectiveness for trauma, interpersonal problems and eating disorders. In a 2002 study, Greenberg and his colleagues studied individuals who had suffered injuries ranging from emotional to physical abuse and found that those who were treated with EFT had much better results than individuals who were treated with psycho-educational therapy. Greenberg has devoted over 20 years to EFT research and has conducted EFT workshops for therapists interested in learning his theory and technique around the globe. Closer to home, he is providing training in EFT for professionals from around the world at the 91��ɫ Psychology Clinic.

Greenberg has won many awards, including the Award for Excellence in Professional Training from the Canadian Council of Professional Psychology Programs, the Carl Rogers Award from the Division 32, the Distinguished Career Award from the Society for Psychotherapy Research and the Professional Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology as a Profession from the .

His professional publications include more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, 89 book chapters and some 17 books, including , , and .

He is a founding member of the and the Society for Constructivism in Psychotherapy, and a past president of the .

In addition, he is on the editorial board of many psychotherapy journals, including the and the .

For more information about Distinguished Research Professorships, visit the Faculty of Graduate Studies Web page. The list of current and past Distinguished Research Professors is available on the 91��ɫ Research Web site.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post Professors Armstrong and Greenberg to be named Distinguished Research Professors appeared first on Research & Innovation.

New book explores the impact of the new economy on work

fmaquito — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 08:00:00 +0000

A new book co-edited by 91��ɫ Professors Norene Pupo and Mark Thomas will receive its official launch Thursday, March 25 at a special reception from 3 to 5pm in 626 91��ɫ Research Tower.

is a collection of original essays investigating the social, political and economic transformations associated with the emergence of the so-called new economy, and their impact on the organization of work within Canada.

The essays discuss the ways in which new management strategies, new communication technologies and efforts to revitalize the labour movement have transformed the Canadian workplace. Focusing on changes in work organization, individuals’ expectations regarding work and the institutional support provided for workers and their families, the text constructs a critical analysis of the "new economy" in order to identify both the potential for quality work experiences and the ways in which the organization of work remains a profound social problem.

Based on years of participatory research, sector-specific studies, and quantitative and qualitative data collection, the work accounts for the ways in which the contemporary workplace has changed, but also the extent to which older forms of work organization still remain.

The collection begins with an overview of the key social and economic transformations that define the new economy. It then illustrates these transformations through examples, including essays on call centre service work and migrant workers. It also addresses unions and their responses to the restructuring of work, as well as other forms of resistance.

Pupo is the director of the Centre for Research on Work & Society at 91��ɫ and a sociology professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS). She is the co-author of .

Thomas is also a professor of sociology in LA& PS at 91��ɫ. He is the author of .

The event will include a panel of speakers discussing some of the book's themes. Participating on the panel are: 91��ɫ political science Professor Greg Albo; 91��ɫ geography Professor Steve Tufts; Ryerson sociology Professor Andie Noack; 91��ɫ social science and women’s studies Professor Linda Briskin; Naveen Mehta, director of human rights, equity & diversity for the United Food and Commercial Workers; Angelo DiCaro, national communications representative for the Canadian Auto Workers union; Ryerson sociology Professor Alan Sears; and Jorge Garcia-Orgales, a researcher with the United Steelworkers Canadian office.

For more information about the launch, contact Robin Smith, administrator at the Centre for Research on Work & Society, at 416-736-5612.

The launch of Interrogating the New Economy: Restructuring Work in the 21st Century is co-sponsored by the University of Toronto Press and the following 91��ɫ programs and units: the Centre for Research on Work & Society, the Department of Sociology, the Graduate Program in Sociology, Graduate Program in Social & Political Thought, Graduate Program in Women’s Studies, the Labour Studies Program, Gender & Work Database, Centre for Feminist Research and the 91��ɫ Staff Association.

Republished with files courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post New book explores the impact of the new economy on work appeared first on Research & Innovation.

91��ɫ awarded a European Union Centre of Excellence

fmaquito — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ has been awarded a grant to establish a European Union Centre of Excellence(EUCE). Recognized for the excellence, breadth and depth of its European Union (EU) studies and scholarly activities, 91��ɫ will receive funding of $480,000 over three years to integrate the University’s existing research, teaching, outreach and networking activities on Europe and the European Union (EU), and introduce and facilitate new activities on the EU and EU-Canada relations.

91��ɫ is recognized as a leader in European studies and has been actively building its concentration in EU studies. Over the past few years, 91��ɫ has attracted numerous new European-focused faculty appointments across a variety of disciplines, including law, political science, business, public administration and humanities. The hub of this activity has been the Canadian Centre for German & European Studies (CCGES), whose affiliated faculty and staff form a natural constituency and administrative backbone for the activities planned by the new EUCE.

“We are tremendously proud of 91��ɫ’s leadership and research excellence in European studies,” said Stan Shapson, vice-president research & innovation. “The activities of the EUCE will promote understanding and knowledge of the European Union as a major player in the global political and economic system, and will be key in promoting the importance of the EU-Canada relationship, its political, economic, security and cultural dimensions, and the widening range of global and regional issues jointly addressed by the EU and Canada.”

With this award, 91��ɫ joins a network of two dozen EUCEs worldwide. 91��ɫ’s EUCE will be hosted by CCGES and directed by Willem Maas (right), Jean Monnet Chair in European Integration and professor of political science and public & international affairs at Glendon College.

The EUCE’s multidisciplinary team also includes:

Burkard Eberlein, policy professor in the Schulich School of Business;
Roger Keil, director of the CITY Institute and CCGES, and a professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies;
Heather MacRae, professor in the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS);
Peter McIsaac, professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics, (LA&PS);
Ian Roberge, professor of political science and public & international affairs at Glendon College;
Karen Robson, sociology professor in the Department of Sociology, (LA&PS);
Craig Scott, director of the , and professor in Osgoode Hall Law School;
Dagmar Soennecken, professor in the School of Public Policy & Administration, (LA&PS);
Leah Vosko, Canada Research Chair in Feminist Political Economy and professor in the Department of Political Science, (LA&PS);
Robert Wai, professor in Osgoode Hall Law School;
Peer Zumbansen, Canada Research Chair in the Transnational & Comparative Law of Corporate Governance and professor in Osgoode Hall Law School.

About the European Union Centres of Excellence

Established in 1998 by the European Union, the network of European Union Centres of Excellence in universities provides information and education about the European Union. In Canada, the objectives of the EU Centres are to increase awareness about the political, economic and cultural importance of the EU-Canada relationship, to promote greater understanding in Canada of the European Union and its policies, and to disseminate information and publicize EU views on issues of interest within regional communities.

The post 91��ɫ awarded a European Union Centre of Excellence appeared first on Research & Innovation.