What are the main forms of competition in the sector?

Your task is to produce a written analysis of the conditions of the working class in
ONE sector of production in British Columbia. (By conditions of the working class,
this means paying attention to everything that makes their way of life distinctive,
something that is discussed below.)
• You have complete freedom to choose the specific sector that you wish to write on. One
or two caveats do exist – including that you need to convince the instructor that the
cohort you seek to investigate can be considered as more or less ‘working class’. Bank or
Fortune 500 company CEOs are rarely considered as working class! However, your
focus need not be a stereotypical ‘manufacturing job’ – retail workers, trades contractors,
housework (rearing a new generation of workers?), miners, some film and TV workers,
teachers, forestry workers, nurses, waiting staff, agriculturalists, etc., are plausible
suggestions too.
• You must get your topic agreed with the instructor by email before starting to write!
Ideally you will have a topic before Week 5 begins, so that you can ask specific questions
during the library research class. If you submit a research essay without having the
topic agreed in advance, you will not receive a grade. The deadline for having a topic
agreed by the instructor is Monday 2nd March.
• Choosing a sector that is related to you personally (or your family), or otherwise
somewhat original to study, will help keep your interest throughout the semester – not
everyone in this course will be permitted to write about the same sector!
• The style of the analysis should be ‘as if’ you are writing a factual study for a labour
organisation concerned about the chief economic, political, and cultural characteristics,
conditions of work, and livelihood prospects of working class people in B.C..
• Imagine you are preparing a research paper for a trade union, a progressive political
party, or similar interested person. Indeed, you may wish to contact a representative
union or organisation for further information. However, you will need to go beyond
merely describing statistics to make an argument about the general trajectory that
working class life in the sector you have chosen is moving.
• What the above means is paying attention to working class conditions of life in a holistic
sense – what are the material and discursive (ideological) conditions that make your
chosen sociological cohort distinctive from other communities?
• As an example, your written research will perhaps indicate for the reader:
? What are some of the chief economic issues related to the ‘reproduction of labour’,
i.e., wages, costs of living, ratio of inflation over the years to wage increases or
decreases, etc..
? How does your chosen sector relate to the fortunes of other sectors?
? What are the main forms of competition in the sector?
? What are the general levels of unionisation in the sector?
? What are the principle unions that represent workers? Any prominent union politics
or disagreements about organising tactics?
? Can anything be noted about the general attitude of other social classes of the B.C.
population to people working in your chosen sector? Why do you think that people
have the views that they do?
? Are there any positive or negative effects of immigration in your chosen sector?
? Is there anything remarkable about the ethnic composition of your chosen sector?
7
? Is there anything remarkable about the gender balance of your chosen sector?
? Is there anything else remarkable about the demographics of your sector, e.g., age?
? Why might your sector have chosen to originally locate in the area that it did? To
what extent was this based on the control of a suitable labour force?
? What are the different levels of income in your chosen sector? How does this
compare to similarly skilled work in B.C.?
? What can be commented upon about the degree of stratification in the workforce of
your chosen sector and its management?
? Are there any contentious issues existing surrounding the reskilling or deskilling of
the workforce?
? Is there anything notable about the general health of the workforce in your chosen
sector, e.g., known health issues due to the form of work?
? What is the typical religious composition of the workforce? Is there a difference or
similarity with the majority of the managers and/or owners of property in the sector?
? Does the sector have a significant degree of foreign ownership?
? How is the ownership of property in your chosen sector typically structured?
? What are the predominant ways that your chosen sector is financed?
? Are there any especially notable political controversies about the sector?
? typical other industries in the geographical area – and explain why they are there, the
What are the typical backward and forward linkages that exist or do not in your
sector, i.e., to other types of economic activity?
? Is it even the case that workers in the sector are typically married or unmarried?
? What does a ‘typical’ worker in your chosen sector look like?
? How do people often suggest that working conditions be improved in your sector?
? What are the major social or geographical obstacles to unionisation in your sector?
How are working people trying to overcome these difficulties?
? What are perceived as the main difficulties facing your sector as a whole? Do you
agree with these views after studying the sector?
? Is there anything distinctive about the historical-geographical origins of the workforce
in your chosen sector? Has anything changed over the years?
? What are the major sociological characteristics of workforces in general in B.C.?
How does your sector compare to them – similar or unusual? Explain why.
? What are the most important branches of production throughout the history of the
B.C. region, since colonisation, and how does your sector relate to them?
? What have been the most ‘typical’ forms of property (e.g., in land, industry, etc.), as
controlled by different social classes at different times, in your sector?
? What have been the most distinctive ‘sub-regional’ geographies of work within the
B.C. region? In other words, does work in your chosen sector, in its chief localities,
resemble or differ much from other types of work in the area?
? What have been the main social, political and economic causes and impacts of
technological change upon the sector?
? What is the role of pressure groups, political parties and trade unions in relation to
your chosen working population?
? What are the general political demands in the region by your population? How have
these been expressed or articulated? Can any connection be drawn with any broader
particular form of work or locality?
? What are the workplace problems/grievances of your chosen sector, both generally
and that are particular to the B.C. region?
8
? What are the largest environmental aspects/problems of the B.C. region, as associated
with your chosen sector?
? What are the most important forms of cultural expression/cultural movements
associated with your chosen sector?
? What have been/are the most important items of legislation affecting work in your
chosen sector? Explain why legislation has changed (or not) over the years.
? What have been the main consequences of different legislations upon your chosen
sector in B.C.? Are there any connections to changes elsewhere in Canada, or
perhaps from abroad?
? How do you ‘theoretically’ account for the particular (changing) sociology and
geography of the working class in your chosen sector?
• Your investigation will need a suitable title, a brief introduction, clear thesis, and a
conclusion.
• Statistics, data and perspectives that are used but have not been generated by you need to
be referenced in a way that any reader of the report can easily locate the same original
source.
• The report will also need appropriate sections to divide and organise the contents. Think
carefully about how you want to do this, and how you will divide your work time up. One
technique often used as a way of starting off is to think of the divisions between school
subjects – e.g., politics, economics, sociology, technology, environmental studies, cultural
studies, law, etc.. At the same time, think about the way these things all connect
together – and whether there might be an overall agenda, of one class or another, for the
future of the sector!
• On the one hand, the course director will be available to help you with preparing this
report. You are not going to be ‘alone’ in preparing this report. Do not be afraid to ask
questions about the report – before the lecture begins, after the lecture ends, during the
lecture break or during office hours are ideal times. Do bring draft copies of what you
are working on, for feedback.
• On the one hand, even though the instructor and other people will give you advice, the
contents and structure of the report is ultimately for you to decide . . . .
• Do not underestimate the time that will be required for this project. The opportunity does
exist to gain very good grades, but it will depend at the end of the day on how well you
organise your research activities and writing up.
• Note that the class in Week 5 is in the Bennett Library, room 2105, and will be all about
how to go about your research. Note too that part of the class in Week 9 will involve a
guest speaker who will provide expert advice on how to go about writing up your
research findings. Make full use of these occasions!
• Whilst you are encouraged to share useful information and sources with other people in
the course, the grade will be awarded individually – it is a test of how well you can work
by yourself, for an extended period of time.
• Whilst the classes on Thursdays will not directly provide you with empirical material for
the report, the general themes and different theoretical approaches should certainly be
borne in mind. There are some specific places that you can start off with in your initial
search for data to organise in the report, and these will be pointed out by the instructor.
For the moment, here are some useful places to find resources and help you get started:
• Student Learning Commons: http://www.lib.sfu.ca/slc/
• Student Learning Commons consultation service information & booking system: