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Robert O'Brien, ed., Solidarity First: Canadian Workers and Social Cohesion.

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Robert O'Brien, ed., Solidarity First: Canadian Workers and Social Cohesion (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press 2008)

THIS 226-PAGE edited collection analyzes the concept and application of social cohesion for (mostly) Canadian workers. Notions of social cohesion centre on the degree of incorporation of individuals into society and their participation in its processes. The book's premise is that social cohesion both offers workers an opportunity to advance their interests and frequently works against those interests--that is to say, social cohesion is contested terrain and its utility to workers depends upon its basis, nature, and form. Worker responses to economic dislocation and rising inequity form the focus of the book's ten chapters. Among the key points made is that worker solidarity appears to be a prerequisite for both resisting negative forms of social cohesion and extracting social cohesion policies that advantage workers.

Belinda Leach and Charlotte Yates examine the gendered nature of work in the Ontario auto industry and its implication for social cohesion. In short, they argue the form and shape of social cohesion is partially determined by...

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