Getting Started on Social Analysis in Canada
Third Edition
Czerny, Michael; Swift, Jamie
Publisher: Between the Lines, Toronto, Canada
Year Published: 1988 First Published: 1984
Resource Type: Book
Cx Number: CX3147
See also CX2933.
Abstract: This book, written by Michael Czerny, director of the Jesuit Centre for Social Faith and Justice, and Jamie Swift, author of "Cut and Run, the Assault on Canada's Forest," is an attempt to provide a practical guide to social analysis for teachers, unionists, church workers and community activists. Instead of leaving difficult economic and social questions to the experts, the authors argue, ordinary people must analyze problems like unemployment, housing shortage, the quality of health care and discimination against minority groups.
The text is written in a plain non-academic style so it can be widely used as an educational tool by groups working for social change. Illustrations and charts are used liberally. Each chapter ends with a set of questions for disucssion and a list of further resources.
The book is divided into several units, starting with an examination of three basic issues: health care, housing and the environemnt.It shows how people have faced those problems, for example, the story of the efforts of people in South Riverdale, a community in the east end of Toronto, to fight Canada Metal, a major lead polluter. The next section looks at the econimic issues of unemployment, microtechnology and resources development. The final section has chapters on women, natives and the elderly.
Swift and Czerny contend that if people engage in social analysis they can organize effectively to change their lives. Statements of major Canadian churches on social issues are mentioned frequently in the text, but the book is also addressed to non-Christians.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
Chapter One: Welcome to Social Analysis
Basic Issues
Chapter Two: In Sickness and in Health
Chapter Three: The Housing Drama
Chapter Four: Our Planet Earth
Reflection
Chapter Five: Social Analysis Again
Economic Issues
Chapter Six: Lost in the Supermarket
Chapter Seven: The Plague of Unemployment
Chapter Eight: Microtechnology and the Future
Chapter Nine: Energy to Burn
Reflection
Chapter Ten: Media and Ideology
Social Issues
Chapter Eleven: Aging- Out of Sight
Chapter Twelve: A Home and Native Land
Chapter Thirteen: "A Woman's Place"
Chapter Fourteen: Canada in the Americas
Conclusion
Chapter Fifteen: We Have Just Begun
References
Index
Subject Headings
