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Some Workers are More Equal than Others: Analyzing Workers’ Rights and Vulnerabilities in Canada
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Introduction
In Canada, provincial governments define legislative laws related to employment, which also govern the freedom of contract or the rights of the general public to be bound by any contract. The legal entitlements of a worker in Canada do not vary between the type of employment, such as waged or salaried (Foster et al., 2018). Furthermore, unionization laws in Canada have only further permitted collective bargaining, unionization, and constitutional protection to Canadian workers, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, and abilities (Foster et al., 2018). At the turn of the 20th century, the basic legal rights of workers existed primarily as factory acts, laws that protected minimum wages, and other compensation mechanisms (Foster et al., 2018). The current legal framework of Canadian workers, which is largely based on collective bargaining and unionization, did not take form till the mid-20th century, around the time of Pierre Trudeau’s election as the Prime Minister (Foster et al., 2018). This paper argues that these contemporary legal rights of Canadian workers have been enacted by governments since the early 1970s to reduce employment discrimination, but the overall progress is relatively slow. Even though unionization provides constitutional protection to Canadian workers, they continue to fear reporting discriminatory acts or violations of employment laws relating to safety, injury, and unionization (Foster et al., 2018). Additionally, this paper also argues that while all workers are entitled to be protected under Canadian law, they are not protected equally. Even among the unionized employees, the most vulnerable are females, visible minorities, part-time workers, and temporary workers (Foster et al., 2018).
History of Legal Rights in Canada
The history of the legal rights of Canadian workers has come into effect as a result of changes in political policies. The most prominent and one of the most recent changes in the employment law of Canada occurred when Pierre Trudeau officially came into power as the Prime Minister in 1968 (Adams, 2016). Many changes were made to the Canada Labour Code of 1971 leading to the establishment of trade unions, unionization, and collective bargaining (Adams, 2016). These rights were extended to all types of workers, regardless of their job type and duration, including the labour sector or minimum wage workers (Adams, 2016). Similarly, in the year 1982, as a result of the positive efforts of Trudeau’s government, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was enacted to further protect the legal rights of Canadian workers (Savage, 2009).
In recent years, the workers’ rights in Canada have become increasingly intermingled with human rights. Therefore, the Supreme Court of Canada has recently become more broad and generous in terms of interpreting what constitutes labour rights and how workers are protected under trade unions in the Charter (Savage, 2009). Subsequently, the Canadian Human Rights Act of 1985 and the Canadian Charter both highlight the key legal right of all workers, which is protection against discrimination (Savage, 2009). According to the legislative law, all workers must be treated fairly and equally, entitled to the same benefits and protections and the employers cannot discriminate against the gender, age, ethnicity, and nationality of workers in Canada (Savage, 2009). Today, human rights legislation and workers’ legal rights are used and treated interchangeably.
Legal Rights of Workers in Canada
In terms of the legal rights of workers in Canada, the main rationale behind introducing unionization and collective bargaining has been to maintain peace, unity, stability, and order in the society by categorizing the management of labour relations within the Canadian legislation (Godard, 2012). Even though unionization protects the basic legal rights of all workers in Canada, they are still strictly subjected to comprehensive state control (Godard, 2012). The basic assumption behind these legal rights is that the workers hold a subordinate position in the workplace and therefore, are often vulnerable and intimidated by their employers (Godard, 2012). As a result, the decision to allow for unionization is deeply rooted in protecting and encouraging workers in Canada with little or no involvement from the employers. Even though Canada has a high union density, especially when compared to the United States, unionization has slightly declined in recent decades due to globalization and industrialization, damaging both the private-sector and the public-sector unions (Adams, 2016). The Canadian labour law system, facilitated by the labour movement in Canada, places greater emphasis on freedom of contract, freedom of expression, freedom of association (to form unions), and freedom to hold property rights with little employer interference (Godard, 2012). These are the reasons that explain why union recognition has been very lenient throughout Canada in comparison to other countries.
It is due to the recognition of unionization and collective bargaining that workers in Canada, especially in the public sector, enjoy competitive salaries, employment benefits, pensions, the right to hold strikes and demand better labour management (Adams, 2016). Additionally, unionization and collective bargaining have also helped reduce worker exploitation, especially of immigrant workers, although there is still ample scope for betterment (Foster et al., 2018). Occupational health and safety are also one of the top priorities governed by the legal workers’ rights in Canada, which ultimately led to the establishment of the Canada Labor Code in the 1970s (Godard, 2012). Unionization in Canada has allowed workers to hold essential powers relating to refusing risky/unsafe work, clarifying the health hazards of a particular job in the workplace, and openly discussing and participating in workplace health and safety issues (Foster et al., 2018). Lastly, parental benefits and maternity leaves have also been protected under the labour law system of Canada since the early 1970s (Godard, 2012). Before unionization, pregnant workers were allowed a very limited duration of maternity leave at a very low percentage of their salary (Godard, 2012). The establishment of unions has allowed workers to negotiate for increased benefits, competitive wages, longer maternity leave, and guaranteed job placement for returning mothers (Godard, 2012). Due to these benefits, unionization and collective bargaining have helped strengthen the legal status of workers in Canada, although there are many persistent inequalities in the system as discussed below.
Pros and Cons of Unionization
Unionization in Canada has had a long history with overall success in protecting workers’ legal rights. Generally, Canada has a history of employers being against the formation of unions within their businesses (Godard, 2009). As well, the relationship between unions and employers or management has been tense, often resulting in events such as strikes to earn more workers’ rights for those within the union (Godard, 2009). However, these strikes have often been rigidly controlled through Canadian labour laws to avoid extended strikes and to encourage resolution between the parties involved in the strike (Godard, 2012). Despite the historically tense and mixed relationship between unions and management, union formation in Canada has been more common than in Canada’s neighbour, the United States (Godard, 2012). Part of why union development has been less successful in the United States is due to the perception that unions are against individual rights and freedoms (Godard, 2012), so many employers villainize unions or present them as against the best interests of the employee. In contrast, Canada is a more collectivist country and workers who have unionized have done so with the belief that this action will protect their shared rights (Godard, 2012). Unions allow Canadian workers to protect their basic right to collective bargaining and to have order and stability within their work (Godard, 2012). Overall, there are many pros to unionization for Canadian workers, as unionization allows them to protect their legal rights and prevent employers from exploiting them.
However, cons to unionization do exist and affect Canadian workers. Employees can feel afraid to form unions due to explicit and implicit pressure from their employers to remain nonunionized (Godard, 2009). Because it is the employee’s choice to form or join a union, and because employees are often operating in a hierarchical power structure where they are below management, it is easy for employers to intimidate employees and discourage them from unionizing (Godard, 2012). Employers are often hostile to union development due to the perception that it will give employees more control and rights, which may negatively affect an employer’s profits if the employees advocate for measures that decrease efficiency (Godard, 2009). Employees may not want to unionize due to fears of being negatively perceived by their employer, limited opportunities for advancement or being opened up to indirect punishment. As well, Godard (2012) explains that “Canadian courts were historically not friendly to the labour movement” (p. 400). This kind of historical precedent can leave lasting impressions of fear among workers who may worry that they do not have a strong legal ground to challenge their employee’s union blocking. Union formation is also difficult in workplaces that are small, such as local and family-owned businesses, due to the impracticality of a union in these cases due to the small number of employees (Godard, 2012). Finally, unions collect dues to function, which some workers may not want to pay due to financial instability or other factors, especially if they are low-income to start with (Godard, 2012). As will be explored later, this raises the issue of how already marginalized individuals are often the ones who have difficulty accessing their labour rights, despite having equal protections under Canadian law compared to any other worker. These cons to unionization may explain why the majority of Canadian workers are not part of a union.
Which Workers are Vulnerable
While many workers have their rights protected by unionization and the reformation of labour laws, there are some workers in Canada who still remain vulnerable. Foreign domestic workers in Canada are often not afforded the same legal rights of workers as Canadian citizens (Stasiulis & Bakan, 1997). The reason foreign domestic workers face continued discrimination and fewer legal rights than other workers are afforded is due to the separate regulation of them as workers from Canadian citizens who perform the same work (Stasiulis & Bakan, 1997). Foreign domestic workers are also classified as temporary workers, further reducing their rights, as temporary workers have access to legal rights that differ from other workers (Stasiulis & Bakan, 1997). In addition to foreign domestic workers, other workers who remain vulnerable include women, immigrants, and those who are visible minorities (Stasiulis & Bakan, 1997). Another category of workers that are vulnerable includes those who work in non-unionized workplaces within the private sector (Slinn, 2020). While documents such as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms were created to protect the legal rights of workers since its inception there has been a decline in access to things such as childcare for working women and social services for immigrant workers (Stasiulis & Bakan, 1997). Another issue is that many minorities, women, and newcomers often find themselves in part-time or casual labour, which provides them with fewer rights and protections than full-time labourers (Law Commission of Ontario, 2012). This shows how while workers may suffer due to conscious discrimination, many others may be vulnerable simply due to other structural barriers that limit their ability to advocate for themselves in the workplace or find stable and safe employment. This demonstrates how workers’ rights are not universally protected in Canada and that there exist many gaps in which workers are protected and which remain vulnerable.
An example of the vulnerability of workers in Canada can be seen in how working conditions were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many workers anonymously complained about unsafe work conditions but feared coming forward and identifying themselves due to potential reprimand from their employers (Slinn, 2020). In contrast, those who worked in the public sector in unionized positions, such as transit workers, were able to hold walk-outs and consider striking for safer working conditions during the pandemic (Slinn, 2020). Temporary and agency workers were at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic, as they were employed in multiple workplaces due to the labour shortage that the pandemic caused (Côté et al., 2021). Without unionization or a guarantee of job stability, this makes the potential costs of advocating for safe working conditions outweigh the potential benefits, discouraging these workers from accessing their labour right to a safe working environment. Additionally, as Côté et al. (2021) note, “there is a high ratio of immigrant and minority workers among temporary work agencies in Canada” (p. 561). The structural factors that force newcomer and minority workers into temporary work result in those demographics being more vulnerable, despite the Canadian government’s attempts to protect all workers in the country. Work positions designated as essential by the Canadian government, which included healthcare workers and grocery stores, also have a higher percentage of women workers than men (Côté et al., 2021). The same issue applies to this scenario, where certain demographics have more difficulty accessing labour rights due to structural factors, showing how certain worker populations slip through the cracks of Canada’s labour rights policies. The effect of the pandemic on the Canadian workforce and the response of both unionized and non-unionized workers reveal the vulnerabilities that exist for workers today.
Conclusion
Overall, this paper has argued that the Canadian government has enacted policies to protect the legal rights of Canadian workers in order to reduce employment and workplace discrimination, an example of such policies being the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. However, despite this work beginning in the early 1970s, progress in protecting the legal rights of Canadian workers has been slow, with some considering it in a perpetual decline (Stasiulis & Bakan, 1997). Unionization has allowed Canadian workers to access collective bargaining and improve working conditions somewhat, yet even unionized workers can face discrimination if they belong to minority groups, are female, are newcomers, or are temporary workers (Foster et al., 2018). As well, non-unionized workers retain fewer workers’ rights and often fear addressing workplace issues due to potential retaliation from employers (Slinn, 2020). While the Canadian government has enacted policies to protect workers’ rights, more can be done to protect those who continue to be vulnerable despite current policies. Part of the issue is through more explicit legislation to protect against anti-union scenarios, but another key element is through addressing systemic barriers that put many disadvantaged demographics in positions where they have difficulty accessing their labour rights.
References
January 21, 2017
Mr. Jon Li
HR Manager
Semimax
9555 Baxter Pl, Burnaby, BC
RE: ESD Applications Engineer
Dear Mr. Li,
I would like to apply for the position of an Applications Engineer co-op for the Enterprise Storage Division. To my knowledge, Semimax offers a comprehensive portfolio of system solutions for a variety of industries, such as communications, data center or aerospace & defence. In addition, I know that you have just announced the SoftConsole v5.1, which is the World’s first freely available windows-hosted eclipse integrated development environment supporting RISC-V open instruction set architecture. I am passionate about writing scripts and am proficient in various programming languages, and hope to use these skills to meet the demands of your company.
Based on my education and experience, I am confident that I will exceed the requirements for the Applications Engineer position. I am enrolled in the FAS program and have co-op work experience handling computer architecture, SW programming, and installing OSes. I have much experience with various elements of software and hardware design, such as C++ and Java, or setting up hardware and drivers due to my personal pursuits. For instance, I have written a program for a solar cap and piezoelectric shoes, which has successfully been able to charge cellphones.
I am interested in the position of ESD Applications Engineer at Semimax because I want to apply my skills of computer languages in some more complex programs and situations. I believe that my skills in the position of ESD Applications Engineer will bring added value to the company. For instance, I have experience constructing tokenizers using a subset of C language to convert a sequence of characters passed to the actual compilation stage of a C compiler into a sequence of strings each holding a C-language token successfully. I have also designed and implemented a circuit that displayed increments whenever a push-button is pressed. These are just a few of my many varied experiences. These experiences will reduce the company’s costs of training me, and I can begin working directly after being hired. I hope that I will be given a chance to work with this company, and study with other professionals. You can contact me via the FAS co-op office. Thank you for taking a moment to read my letter and I look forward to speaking with you.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Smith
A Critical Perspective of the Bandwagon Effect
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Introduction
The Bandwagon Effect refers to the phenomenon observed in human behaviour where individuals tend to make decisions in accordance with the larger group. Niesiobędzka (2018) describes the bandwagon effect as the increased desirability and demand of a commodity since others are consuming the same commodity. While this description focuses largely on consumerism, the bandwagon effect has been observed in many different fields and is considered a large aspect of human behaviour and decision-making. Through examining several empirical studies, this paper will outline current findings surrounding the Bandwagon Effect.
Studying the Bandwagon Effect
As alluded to previously, the Bandwagon Effect plays a large role in consumerism, especially in the consumption and desirability of luxury items such as expensive alcoholic spirits (such as Hennessy Cognac) or designer clothing (brands such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, or Yves Saint Laurent). Rather than consume these products for utility purposes, the consumption of luxury goods is used for social distinction. Consumers of luxury products can establish their social standing by displaying these items as a show of wealth and status (Niesiobędzka, 2018). The author of this paper conducted a series of studies to quantify the Bandwagon Effect on luxury consumption. In the first study, 60 teenage participants were randomly assigned to experiment or control groups. The participants in the experimental groups were then shown advertisements with a focus on products in relation to “significant others” such as celebrities, influencers, high-status individuals, and other “desirable” people to aspire towards (Niesiobędzka, 2018, p. 29). The control group was shown product advertisements without comparison to desirable “significant others”. Following the exposure to the product advertisements, participants were asked to rate how much money they were willing to pay for the advertised products. Niesiobędzka (2018) hypothesized that, in accordance with the Bandwagon Effect, individuals would be more willing to pay for items that they perceived to be more desirable by more amounts of people, especially if these people were seen as “desirable” due to their association with significant others. As predicted by the hypothesis, participants were observed to be willing to pay upwards of 30% more for products that were “endorsed” by celebrities and/or high-status individuals (Niesiobędzka, 2018). An additional study conducted within this paper demonstrates that even just the logo of a luxury brand can incite the influences of the Bandwagon Effect. Similar to the first study, participants who were exposed to advertisements with explicit reference to high-class celebrities found it more desirable to prominently display larger and more frequent instances of luxury logos (Niesiobędzka, 2018).
Contrasting Explanations for the Bandwagon Effect
While this study prominently displayed the force of the Bandwagon Effect within consumerism, this work did not cover the topic in other instances of human behaviour. Consumerism is a multifaceted issue, and the Bandwagon Effect can not account for all of the behaviours observed within mass consumerism. Another commonly observed example of the Bandwagon Effect exists in voting. As outlined by Bischoff and Egbert (2013), participants’ voting behaviours were influenced once given the knowledge about a candidate’s approval rating. Participants were more inclined to vote for individuals who were viewed in higher regard by more people (higher approval rating) and less inclined to vote for individuals with lower approval ratings (viewed in low regard by more people) again demonstrating the influence of the Bandwagon Effect (Bischoff & Egbert, 2013). Similar findings were observed when examining the Bandwagon Effect in relation to online decision-making. The Internet provides users with a wide berth of information, however this endless supply of information, without any filters, can become overwhelming. Knowing this, many users make use of “bandwagon cues” in which they forfeit their decision-making to the evaluations and opinions of other users who have already decided on a product (Kim & Gambino, 2016). For example, countless shopping websites such as Amazon, or booking sites such as Trivago make use of a rating and review system, where users can browse through star ratings and user reviews of products, hotels, restaurants, and many other products. Through the use of bandwagon cues, it was observed that users were significantly more inclined toward products with high star ratings and many user reviews (Kim & Gambino, 2016). In other words, the opinions of others have been observed to be a large influence on decision-making for online users, especially when choosing products or services to purchase.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the Bandwagon Effect has been proven to play a large influence on human decision-making and behaviours. Bandwagon cues heavily influence the desirability of certain brands, products, services, and even political candidates. By using tools such as star ratings and user reviews, the opinions of the masses can vastly shape how one comes to a decision individually.
References
Question #3: What kinds of legal rights do workers have in Canada? Do they protect all workers equally?
The history of legal rights has come from the change in political policy. The most recent change from recent years comes from the start of Pierre Trudeau’s initiation into power as prime minister in 1968. This prime minister changed the political policy in favor of trades unions and the Canada Labour Code of 1971 helped strengthen collective bargaining rights. These “Bargaining rights were extended to professional employees, owner-operator truck drivers, and fishers. In addition, workers were to be given 90 days notice of nay technological change that might affect the security of their job” (Taylor, 1997, pg.15). Although this policy helped job security, this is still a major issue of today’s workforce and the technological changes within the trades market. Labour movements in Canada recently have been lenient and not stern enough towards the political policy with technology advancements affecting the security of jobs within the trades unions (Ross, 2015). Although there was strong political policy in previous regimes of political policy, more progress and new policy platforms must be set up to strengthen bargaining rights and technology advancements with job security on the new government we have today.
It has been very difficult fighting for stronger workers rights in political policy due to capitalistic markets raising prices and implementing the unions to look like the villain. When union rights increased under the Trudeau government in the 1970’s, prices and inflation shot up drastically. This affected the economic market, which in turn affected people not in unions who then had to pay for the negative impacts of the strikes. When the Canadian Union of Postal Workers went on strike in 1975 “60% of Canadians who were not members on unions and who would have to pay for this settlement through taxes and higher postal charges this was an outrage” (Taylor, 1997, pg. 19). The problem with the Canadian public thinking like this is they do not see the light at the end of the tunnel. These Postal service employees eventually won and got a 30-hour week along with a 71% pay increase (Taylor, 1997). It is tough for the Canadian public to see the union sector as helping the trades work because they do not physically see a change in their day-to- day lives. They do not realize that these union movements are a fighting force to the free-market economy trying to regulate prices and wages of workers that can eventually lead to giving out wages that are unsupportive to the living wage of a Canadian citizen (Ross & Savage, 2012).
References
From the perspective of William James in “Varieties of Religious Experience”, the concepts of the scholar come from the viewpoint of a psychologist and not a theologian. The author makes it clear in his orientation that “I am neither a theologian, nor a scholar learned in history of religions, nor an anthropologist. Psychology is the only branch of learning in which I am particularly versed” (James, 1902, pg.18). So when looking into analysis on how religion affects the people and the environment around them, James talks about the psychological aspect of why people are in these religions and choose to accept these beliefs. One way he looks at this concept of psychology in religion comes through his analysis on the bureaucracy of it all.
When thinking about the religious leader of the church that I joined, characteristics and habits of the leader can be described with comparable thoughts of William James perspective on religious leadership. The scholar James talks about how if religious life is “exclusively pursued, it tends to make the person exceptional and eccentric” (James, 1902, pg. 20). When the leader of the church was speaking through my own experience, they seemed very well spoken and excited to voice and illuminate scripture to the people on what he was talking about. Not only that, but the people that were heavily involved to the environment of it all seemed very intrigued and trying to analyze every word the pastor was trying to explain. James continues explaining what a religious leader’s characteristics are by writing, “his religion being made for him by others, communicated to him by tradition, determined to fixed forms by imitation, and retained by habit” (James, 1902, pg. 20). This ‘retained habit’ with the pastor happened every time he made us say ‘amen’ after the prayers. Many actions and thoughts of the pastor and leader to the religious community I was experiencing had these psychological traits William James discusses.
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The Freedom of Thought versus the Freedom of Happiness: Utopia in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World
Introduction
While the goal of utopia is to create an ideal civilization where every aspect of society is optimized to be ‘perfect’, achieving this goal is often impossible as maximizing certain traits typically leads to other sacrifices. For instance, in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, the technologically advanced World State frames itself as a utopia for its ability to create social stability through conformity. The fact that not all the characters, and eventually the reader, recognize that the World State is actually a dystopia due to its mind-control of the citizens through social conditioning and happiness inducing drugs called Soma shows how social stability can be taken too far. The novel’s central tension of social stability versus individual freedom is explored through the perspective of the protagonist, John the Savage, as he had grown up on the savage reservation outside of the World State territories, so he never experienced its social conditioning. This allows John to act as a foil to the seemingly blissful citizens of the allegedly utopian World State, showing how something that appears to utopian to one person may seem dystopian to others. This paper will argue that Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World demonstrates how while social stability may be idealized by utopians, it is not worth pursuing to an extreme if it comes at the cost of people’s freedoms of thought, thus dehumanizing them.
The Right to Unhappiness
To start, John’s disdain for the citizens’ widespread use of Soma shows how unethical it is for the state to force social stability onto the citizens. When John is arrested for inciting a citizen riot to protest the state’s soma rations, the government leader who speaks to him, Mustapha Mond, explains to him that Soma, among other state measures such as the monthly Violent Passion Surrogate treatments, are used to regulate the citizens’ mood so they feel complacent and satisfied with life. However, in response, John argues that citizens should have “the right to be unhappy”, especially as many humans like him “like the inconveniences” of life (Huxley 103). From Mond’s perspective, giving citizens an easy life where their emotions are regulated is optimal because there is no uprising and inconvenience, creating the overall happiness that is seen as necessary for utopia. However, John’s perspective frames it as dystopia, suggesting that people should have a right to their emotions, whether good or bad. It should not the role of the state to decide what the citizens’ want or require for happiness. This contrast shows how Brave New World suggest that social stability can be problematic if it is achieved in a way where the citizens have no say in it.
Autonomy
As well, the World State citizens are looked down upon by John for having no notion of sanctity for life and death, showing how they are deprived of emotional autonomy. When John is given a tour of the youth conditioning centre, the headmistress mentions that a group of Deltas recently took a field trip “from the Slough Crematorium. Death conditioning begins at eighteen months. Every tot spends two mornings a week in a Hospital for the Dying. All the best toys are kept there, and they get chocolate cream on death days. They learn to take dying as a matter of course.” (Huxley 70). In this scenario, death is not just normalized but it is also slowly associated with a positive outcome (i.e., the children getting to eat chocolate cream and play with the best toys). John’s reaction is to call this practice “disgraceful” especially when he sees the children make fun of the dead (87). John’s insistence of the sanctity of death and life becomes a microcosm of the point that the text makes about the problem of having a perfectly stable society where everyone feels happy and complacent at all times. When people are desensitized to tragedy, the stability in society is ultimately superficial, because people are not truly happy but rather they do not know how to be upset. While the text does not suggest that John’s outlooks are right, the interaction shows how John at least had a choice in how he wanted to feel, while the World State citizens were brainwashed from an early age. Thus, trading away people’s freedom over their moral beliefs about complex issues such as life and death are framed as an unethical trade-off in exchange for social stability.
Conclusion
Thus, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World demonstrates how while social stability may be idealized by utopians, it is not worth pursuing to an extreme if it comes at the cost of people’s individual freedom of thought, thus dehumanizing them. When citizens have their emotions tightly controlled, they are denied the ‘right to unhappiness’, so any existing happiness is superficial. As well, when citizens are socialized to be completely complacent with the way things are in life, they are denied the personal freedom of being able to choose their moral beliefs. John’s disdain for the citizens’ complacent lives allows him to function as a foil to their superficial outlooks, showing how the means of achieving a seemingly happy and stable society do not justify the ends if they dehumanize the citizens. Brave New World demonstrates how while technology can give people more comfortable lives, when taken to the extreme, a lack of discomfort takes away the thoughts, morals, and feelings that are core to the human experience.
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Arne Johan Vetlesen presents promising factors towards his case study between empathy and moral conduct. Demonstrating that the most concerning area in question is that of psychic numbing. Vetlesen argues between vital connections associated with psychic numbing and the type of destructive numbness that controls our attitudes towards our environment. Vetlesen draws from The Doors of Perception an essay by Aldous Huxley (1977) to ask us “what motive can we have for covetousness or self-assertion” when everything seems to be infinity and holy? Upon reading Heesoon Bai’s Descartes’ Autism (p.410) Vetlesen is transformed by how he took on new senses where he could hear, see and feel “the intelligible and animated presence of [the] beings around [him]” (Vetlesen p.138). Vetlesen vastly explores the psychological connection between the soul and physical entities. Presenting factors such as our feet being able to touch the ground this connects us to the earth not only by touch but also spiritually.
Vetlesen also dives into some of the simplest forms a human can take such as walking down a street. He mentions that in ancient Greek homes servants jobs could be as basic as walking the master’s children to and from school. However he notes that the important concept is not “walking” but “mindfully” doing so. Vetlesen challenges readers to be aware of the “participatory consciousness of receptivity, embodied sensitivity, openness” associated with being fully engaged to what is here right now. The case presented by Vetlesen allows readers to take into account that our attitudes are centered from some of our most basic human abilities and if we do not take care of those how do we expect to take care of environment?
Technology is constantly advancing everyday and students and teachers are constantly having to develop and adapt to the new upcoming changes. The way we communicate nowadays is influenced majorly by technology. Everyday we are seeing shifts in the way we talk and interact with one another based on social media and technology. Teachers and some students are finding it difficult to keep up and learn and adapt to the new upcoming ways technology is advancing and the way it is affecting our society. “Technologies are value and culturally neutral” (Culture, Technology, Communication, Charles Ess, Fay Sudweeks, pg10), in todays age we are constantly surrounded by technology, even when we go to certain fast food places we are taking our orders using machines. There are countless essays that predict the machines takeover of our simple jobs and how a new day in age is coming. I strongly believe that we are heading towards a new era, one where there are going to be many people who find themselves without jobs. Especially your basic, minimum wage employees, these are the ones who will be in most jeopardy. Due to technologies rapid advances, we are going to be needing less employees to do simple tasks and more to operate and program the somewhat advanced robots we have create. “Some argue that humans are merely elegant machines” (Machines That Become Us, James Everett Katz, pg24), and this is why we can create more “elegant machines” to do our work for us. It honestly scares me that in Toronto there is now a fully machine operated McDonalds. This goes to show how fast we truly are advancing. Students and teachers seem unable to keep up. My experience in school with technology did not equip me to have the skill I needed for this day in age. “Undoubtedly [new technology brings] with them important social problems, which we should understand and prevent” (Communication Technology, Everett M. Rogers, pg20). Todays day in age creates some massive problems for the older and middle generations. Many of the jobs we are training for will be beginning to become more unaccounted for everyday. The new industry coming up is creating a new line of work. One that many students are going to have to adapt to otherwise they will be left without jobs. The new technology also creates a new type of community. We now have a whole community outside of our neighbours, friends and family, one which can be international and vast in its diversity of people. We have now developed a new culture one which has a majority of its roots in the digital areas of our life. “Knowledge within these cultures is community-based and people tend to construct their identities in relation to the community” (Online Communication, Andrew F. Wood, Matthew J. Smith, pg8). So now because of the new community and culture we have developed we are creating new identities. People are drastically different in the way they act towards themselves and one another due to this new community and culture being created through our new technology. Already now a huge part of our community is being left out of this new type of literacy because they have not developed the skills to learn about it. People who did not grow up with cellphones, television, social media or any sort of advanced technology are finding it hard to keep up with society due to the drastic changes we have made. There are so many aspects of our society that are now being affected by technology that many people are finding it hard to adapt. Even the school systems today are not preparing our students for what is ahead of them. Technology has not only created new doors in our society but is has also presented new challenges. People are going to have to create many new skills in order to be prepared for the new world technology has created.
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Embracing the Changing Technological Face of the Workforce: How Should Schools Prepare Students for this Future?
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Introduction
There are new technologies that are developing every day which hint at the possibility that technology is ‘taking over’ or potentially even replacing the human workforce. For instance, many fast-food chains are trying out such technologies in preparing and delivering food that requires no human aid whatsoever. It is the responsibility of schools to teach the students about these challenges in a transparent manner so that they can make betterinformed decisions about their future. For this reason, in this paper, I will discuss these challenges and ask the following question: how should schools teach children about these technologies without making them feel scared or pessimistic about the future? This paper will argue that all schools should include discussions on these technological changes in their curriculum and inform the students about the different kinds of jobs that will become more popular in the future, and those that might become obsolete in time. Educators should develop strategies to integrate technology into fields of teaching such as social sciences and humanities so that the students do not all feel forced to enter the STEM fields for economic survival.
Technology and the Realities of the Changing Workforce
Since the 1960s, information technologies have affected the nature of work in areas such as communication methods, varied equipment, telecommuting from different locations, etc. For the most part, these technologies improved workflow efficiency, diminished costs, and positively affected communication between sectors, constituting the backbone of a competitive marketplace (Mamaghani, 2006). For instance, in the past, photocopy machines replaced human beings copying documents. Now, it is considered one of the most basic technologies to have in an office. And in today’s world, there is a growing discourse around machine learning and artificial intelligence. Therefore, there is no telling that jobs that depend on human aid right now will not be completed by automation in the future, reducing the number of jobs available for humans.
With the influence of globalization, these technologies have become rapidly adopted by workplaces around the world. Projections from the 2000s believed that multinational corporations would use remote technologies more to make their work even more efficient (Mamaghani, 2006), and contemporary society has confirmed those projections in almost every sector. There are robots serving food and driving cars, and although most of them are in the test phase, this does not mean one day they will not be our reality. Many scholars predict big-scale job loss for humans and the creation of an un-working class after they are replaced by robots (Hattingh, 2018). The COVID-19 pandemic has shown what drastic changes can be taken in the workplace if called upon. Many companies reported more productivity during the pandemic, and most of the staff are not going to the office at all or are attending on a very limited schedule. This situation shows that humans can adapt to changing situations and still maintain a level of productivity. But, for this to happen, the basic organizational setup and mindset have to change in the workplace and there should be a redirection toward a crossfunctional collaboration in all professions (Bughin et al., 2018). Thus, although there is a certain direction that technology has taken in changing the workplace, there is still some way to go for all sectors to adapt to it. Considering all of these developments, we can suggest that the workforce and the workers will change in the future due to the impact of technology. Thus, how should young people be prepared for this drastic future? What are the responsibilities of higher education and other educational institutions in adapting the students’ mentality to this inevitable future?
Technology Education and Preparing the Future Generations
The impact of technology is a process that develops over time, as scholars have been observing for the past 50 years. It is an always-changing process, and educators should first of all focus on this aspect of it while teaching students about the future prospects of education. Technology is not something unified; it improves in increments. Therefore, there is a misconception that all workers will suffer from unemployment in the same fashion and at the same time (Schulte and Howard, 2019). This misconception can be overcome if the educators address the issue in terms of specific jobs, tasks, and sectors within certain occupations. Rather than portraying the future technologies as a threat, educators should focus on this pattern and encourage the students to focus on the collaborations between the human workforce and the robotic tools. Besides, as we see in today’s world, the advancement of technology is very much dependent on politics and the governance of societies, especially in the superpowers of the world (Schulte and Howard, 2019). If the legal proceedings do not allow it or are changed accordingly, the technology takeover of human jobs cannot go forward. Educators, therefore, should explain to the students what kind of relationships big companies and billionaires have with governments, and how they affect our world and the workforce.
Automation of the workforce and the inclusion of AI will change the workforce in terms of the hours spent on work and the technological and physical skills required. Research suggests that by the year 2030, technological skills that will be required in the workforce will increase by 50 percent in the US, and 41 percent in Europe (Bughin et al., 2018). The fastest rise will be between IT, programming, data science, and computer sciences in general. In the face of this stark increase, sectors and educators need to shift their approaches to work. We do not know if one day even teachers will become redundant because it might be possible to conduct all education with the help of robots and the internet. Even today, we can access so much information and automated courses on the internet without the help of a teacher. For that reason, I argue that educators have a responsibility to direct the students’ interests toward tech fields more, and they should develop curriculums that would integrate tech with all fields of humanities and social sciences, not just IT and programming. The research further suggests that while the need for physical labour will decrease, higher cognitive and social skills will be more in demand (Bughin et al., 2018). It can be claimed that a sector such as psychology will never lose its popularity, but the methods of conducting it will change. Thus, educators should make the students aware of these nuances.
Related to this, another responsibility of schools is to make sure that students know that humanities and social sciences are still framed as important as the hard sciences, even in the face of increasing technology. How can technology improve and impact arts fields? How do the social sciences help big tech companies understand their market and conduct user research? These questions should be the focus of the social science and humanities education of the future, and the students who want to be in these fields should be encouraged to pursue these subjects for better future job prospects. The information age is, after all, less important for its technology than for its redesigning of human life, and this is the concern of humanities (Davidson, 2010). For that reason, the importance of tech should not be portrayed as future devastation and dystopia, but rather, as a vast sea of opportunities in all kinds of professions.
Lastly, to provide students with an effective education that will prepare them for the changing face of the workforce, educational institutions should collaborate with the technology sector, from media to the internet to retail and AI. The most suitable body of education to do this is the higher education institutions because they have the resources to conduct research across schools and tech companies to determine the future needs of the labour market. In this way, the schools can receive guidance from tech companies in better integrating high-tech courses and data science courses into the curriculum of both higher education and other levels of education. It is worth noting that most of the research conducted today on environmental change and renewable energy is done within the aegis of social sciences and its methods (Krupnik et al., 2022). As climate change is one of the most vital issues of our day, we can see how there are more job opportunities for both tech and social sciences in the future, as there will still need to be solutions for how to persuade populations to challenge climate change.
Conclusion
This paper acknowledges that there are growing discussions about the inevitability of technology taking over more jobs in the future, therefore causing potential unemployment among humans. However, this does not mean that all is lost and a dystopian future is waiting for society. Instead, educators should focus on the new possibilities that the improving impact of tech in the workforce and educate the students according to these facts, while at the same time encouraging them to combine their favourite subjects with tech skills to have more job opportunities in the future. There is a big responsibility on schools and higher education institutions in developing curriculums that will accommodate these future changes in the workplace. Just like data science and computational science, the merits of social sciences and humanities should be explained to the students while still incorporating tech into social sciences so that they have more opportunities to choose from.
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Part of the economic analysis is recognizing why people act the way they do. This type of analysis is different from Marxian analysis, which assumes that people are “motivated solely by selfishness or material gain” (385). Instead, the economic approach acknowledges that actions can be motivated by a number of factors. Peoples’ actions are “constrained by income, time, imperfect memory and calculating capacities” (386). This approach shows that there are many different factors that decide how a person will act, and it looks into each category to see what applies to a certain situation or individual. The biggest difference between the two approaches to analysis is that Marxian analysis focuses on the present, assuming that people are acting in the moment for some immediate gain. On the other hand, the economic analysis also accepts that someone might be doing something in the present because of what has happened in the past, “for the past can exert a long shadow on attitudes and values” (386). Because of the impact that the past can have over people, it is important to look at different periods of their life and what has happened to them, to begin to understand how they choose their actions. People may have experienced something in the past that could cause them anxiety or put pressure on them to do something in their present (386). In this way, the economic approach to analyze peoples’ actions shows how complex human beings are, and how their present is made up of their past experiences, as well.
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Sin-Goods Advertisement: How Regulations for Alcohol Advertising Can Learn from Cigarettes Advertising
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Introduction
Sin goods are known as items that are deemed to have a negative impact on a societal level and an individual level. As such, society as a whole can benefit from their decreased consumption, which can be achieved through government interventions such as sin taxes or quota caps. In the past decades, the most notable sin good that has been under heavy scrutiny is cigarettes, as seen through advertising bans and scare tactics on packages in an attempt to minimize consumption (Capella et al., 2008). Another commonly criticized substance is alcohol, which has been problematic due to its increased use by teenagers, who can suffer severe longterm development, physical, and social consequences from alcohol use (Gunter et al., 2009). This trend can be attributed to the advertising practices of alcohol brands and how the product is portrayed in media. In the present paper, I will argue that alcohol advertising should be regulated to decrease use rates among teenagers. I will begin by examining the research regarding advertisements and underage drinking to establish the causal relationship. Then I will argue for the notion that teenage drinking is problematic by looking at its consequences. Finally, I will use research on cigarette policies to provide suggestions regarding alcohol advertising based on their success potential and intended outcomes.
Alcohol Advertising
The alcohol industry spent over $1.4 billion on advertising efforts in 2000 (Grube, 2004). This number has likely drastically increased as technology has improved and digital media has become more integrated into lives in developed countries. These advertisements are typically shown during prime time and are tailored to specific types of alcohol (Gunter et al., 2009). Common themes that are present within these ads include the physical attractiveness, elegance, and increased sociability of those who consume alcohol. Some positive life outcomes such as success and romance are also incorporated into the ads (Grube, 2004). These parallel the practices of cigarette advertising on TV before their bans (Capella et al., 2008). These ads are also often shown on non-age discriminatory channels, such as sports channels, which likely led to widespread exposure to the underaged population. It is estimated that approximately 89% of the underaged population is exposed to alcohol-related advertisements (Grube, 2004).
In a study by Robinson et al. (1998), it was found that television watching was directly correlated to alcohol use. Each hour of television watching time is correlated to a 9% increase in the likelihood that the child will engage in alcohol use. Interestingly, at the same time, watching programs on tape or in movies is associated with a decrease in the use of alcohol. These findings lend support to the notion that alcohol use is not related to TV programmings like shows or movies, but rather, it stems from the advertisements that are shown to children while watching TV. While Grube (2004) proposes mixed results when it comes to correlations between alcohol and advertising, I believe findings from Gunter et al. (2009) can mediate these mixed results. The study found that while alcohol advertisements do not increase general consumption, they do show significant effects on specific consumption. That means an advertisement for beer will increase the likelihood of beer consumption but not the consumption of spirits or cider. Grube (2004) also somewhat supports this theory as he touches briefly on the specificity of advertisement.
All of the aforementioned studies concur that positive attitudes from advertisement portrayal lead to increased underage consumption of alcohol (Grube, 2004; Robinson et al., 1998; Gunter et al., 2009). These intended attitude formation goals can also be seen as supporting evidence for the specificity effect of advertisement. Various types of alcohol such as beer, wine, and spirits are advertised to different audiences that vary in appeal perspectives. Based on these population-specific advertisements, alcohol companies are able to enforce positive associations and create a sense of admiration in teenagers for the figures that are presented within the ad. Advertisements can efficiently achieve this goal as alcohol consumption in TV ads is often associated with positive and desirable life outcomes. According to psychological theories of social learning, teenagers are likely to replicate the behaviours of these perceived admirable figures (Albert, 2017). These feelings of admiration not only increase the proximal likelihood of alcohol consumption but also increase the long-term likelihood (Gunter et al., 2009).
Effects of Underage Drinking
The negative impacts of drinking come as no surprise. Gunter et al., (2009) briefly discuss some long-term consequences which include early positive associations of alcohol consumption leading to later life dependencies. Excess alcohol consumption can then lead to poor physical and mental health as well as potential unsociability in relationships. Morgenstern et al. (2011) support this notion as they found that positive changes in attitudes towards alcohol consumption at a young age are correlated to later-life substance abuse. This attitudinal effect was very robust, outweighing all other factors, including the influences of personality, age, and social environment. The study proposed that advertisement for alcohol products is problematic because it perpetuates this positive attitude within underaged children and produces a predisposition for alcohol use that can be damaging for children.
While an argument can be made that alcohol use is a personal choice and should not be limited, its societal costs should also be considered. A primary consideration during the decisions to make anti-cigarette policies is the societal costs incurred through second-hand smoking. While less extreme, alcohol consumption also incurs social costs. Fell et al. (2009) found that underage drinking is a major cause of Driving Under Influence (DUI) accidents which put sober drivers at risk. While the government put in place additional laws as a means of limiting these types of accidents, enforcement of these laws incurs additional costs for taxpayers. Further, as described by Gunter et al. (2009), alcohol consumption leads to health concerns that add a burden to the health care system. In countries such as Canada, a moral hazard situation is created as society bears the economic burdens of the medical costs of these individuals rather than personal responsibility. Thus, alcohol advertisement’s facilitation of positive attitudes among underage drinkers can lead to significant determinants on both a societal and personal level.
Suggestions Based on Cigarette Ad Bans
To investigate the limitation of sin goods and which interventions are effective, it is important to look at the historical measures taken against cigarettes. Cigarettes can be viewed as a parallel to alcohol as they are both harmful substances that are normative within society due to their popular imaging. In Capella et al.’s (2008) meta-analysis of the effects of advertisement bans for cigarettes, it was found that full and partial bans of the advertisement have a relatively small effect on cigarette demand. It is proposed that this effect is mediated by the fact that most cigarette consumption occurs on the basis of habit and brand loyalty rather than through generated desire. While advertisements get people to try smoking, it is regulars that drive business. In the case of underage drinking, it is precisely the aspect of introducing the product to youths that is problematic. Thus, I propose a full ban on advertising is not necessary. Instead, only a ban on ads that can be viewed as appealing, relatable, and accessible to youths should be banned. Programs with low youth viewership can continue to air alcohol-related ads with little impact on the issue at hand. Similarly, traits that are paramount to young people such as sociability, physical attractiveness, and financial wealth should be avoided in advertising.
Scare tactics of cigarettes are another commonly addressed issue. What used to be visually appealing cigarette packaging is now replaced by grotesque images of cancer patients and deteriorating dental health. Further, ad campaigns have been run that highlight the horrors of smoking (Hill et al., 1998). Again, these interventions have not resulted in a significant decrease in smokers in the short term, likely because of reasons similar to those presented by Capella et al. (2008), such as most smokers already experiencing symptoms of addiction. However, these tactics can be more successful in youths who are more susceptible to attitude alteration to avoid positive attitude effects presented by Morgenstern et al. (2011). Hill et al., (1998) also incorporated several suggestions that can be transferable to alcohol-related infomercials. These include the importance of personal relevance within scare tactics and the need for these campaigns to provide new and insightful pieces of information.
Conclusion
From the present paper, there has been growing evidence that advertisements for alcohol products increase the likelihood of underage drinking. This is primarily due to the accessibility and relatability of these advertisements for the youth population. Mediation mechanisms can be attributed to the associations made between alcohol and desirable traits and life outcomes which leads to the formation of positive attitudes towards alcohol use. These attitudes are shown to increase the probability of longitudinal alcohol reliance and abuse that lead to detrimental effects on personal health. Alcohol abuse in youth and adults also incurs social costs which continue to motivate my argument for restricting alcohol advertisements. In particular, advertisements should be banned from programs that have a significant portion of youth viewers, most notably, the sports channel. They should also be vetted to limit their relatableness to the underage population. Scare tactics can also be employed to combat the positive attitude formation effects of advertisements provided they are carefully crafted.
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Hunting was an important part of the lifestyle for the Homo erectus species. This ancestor to humans has a “strong and heavy body” that was made for hunting and killing animals (Ben-Dor, Gopher, Hershkovitz, & Barkai, 2011, 3). During this time period, they were also associated with the “production of large flakes and handaxes” (3). These tools would be good for killing animals. This type of hunting was necessary because Homo erectus needed to “consume animal fat as part of their diet” to take care of their larger brains (1). Plant foods were not enough to provide enough fat and protein to help them survive (1). This type of food could not support their large brains, or their large bodies. The men needed tools like handaxes so that they could kill larger animals. The men were responsible for catching enough meat to feed the entire group that they lived with. So, it would be much more efficient to kill a couple of larger animals, than to kill a larger number of smaller animals (1). This type of hunting also saved them time because they could stalk one larger prey and cook its pieces (2). The meat protein that this species took from animal meat and fat, helped them to develop “higher cognitive abilities” (Vaesen, 2012, 115). These abilities made it possible for them to make tools and use them to make their hunting practices more efficient. This development is also one of the steps towards their eventual evolution into the present day human.
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