I am a feminist sociologist committed to the following main areas of research: citizenship; sociology of the family and intimate relations; sociology of gender and sexuality; poverty; social policy; and research methods.
In general:
I see the family as an institution and/or ideological construct and families as relational experiences, practices and processes of everyday living experienced by individuals. I tend to work with an understanding of gender as a social structure that (re)produces differences and inequalities and critically engage with how it inter-locks with the personal and social dimensions of race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, ability, and citizenship. Much of my research is generally underscored by three goals. I seek to understand:
• how the meanings attached to family and gender change over time
• the relations and practices (e.g. paid and unpaid work) engaged in as family members, these informed by gendered and sexual selves
• the processes of being, becoming, or constructing gender and family identities and relations, especially in opposition to ‘dominant norms’ of family life – e.g. the construction of fictive kin families
Specifically:
I primarily research how families and gender relations are connected to and/or shaped by the social policy and programs of the Canadian welfare state.
To date, a central goal of this program of research is my deliberate juxtaposition of policy discourse and ideology (e.g. neo-liberalism) with the everyday experiences of individuals, especially parents. I aim to uncover the disconnections, tensions, and possible congruities that materialize when we compare and contrast how single women and men, or mothers and fathers (where individuals self-define as straight or LGBTIQ2SA), are defined and their eligibility constituted in social policies such as social assistance (e.g. Ontario Works) and how they actually live out their family lives. While the totality of my research is empirical and multi-method, I am consistently drawn to discourse analysis and in-depth interviewing in order to meet this particular goal.
The following projects* illustrate my general and specific research interests and objectives.
Current Projects
Exploring the Welfare-to-Work Experiences of Ontario Works’ Recipients Living with Addiction (Principal Investigator) (2015-)
This project employs discourse analysis and in-depth interviews to explore how Ontario's social assistance policy, Ontario Works (OW), is experienced by benefit recipients who are recovering from addiction to substances (e.g. alcohol and drugs). The primary questions of this research are:
1. What policy and health discourses shape eligibility for OW for persons recovering from addiction?;
2. What are the welfare-to-work experiences of persons recovering from addiction?;
And related to these questions, other secondary ones include: How is addiction defined and perceived by the Ministry of Community and Social Services? How might the OW experience of single individuals differ from those who have dependents? And how might gender and race/ethnicity shape these experiences?
Myth or Reality? Interrogating the Intergenerational Welfare Dependency Hypothesis in Ontario, Canada (Co-investigator) (2014-)
This research, with co-investigators Dr. Tracy Smith-Carrier, Dr. Stephanie Baker Collins, and Dr. Carrie Smith uses mixed-methods to investigate whether and how an intergenerational relationship of social assistance participation does exist in Ontario, Canada. The quantitative analysis is directed at answering whether there is a significant relationship between parent social assistance involvement and their child(ren)’s participation. In-depth interviews with persons on Ontario Works were conducted to understand the following:
1. Parents’ perspectives on if, and how, their social assistance participation may have influenced their child’s SA receipt;
2. Adult children’s perspectives on if, and how, their parent’s receipt may have influenced their own SA access;
3. Participants’ thoughts on the facilitators and barriers leading to their social assistance participation
Past Projects
Income Inequality in Mid-Life, Looking Toward the Later Years: A Canada/U.S. Longitudinal Comparison (co-investigator) (2010-2014)
Assuming the challenges brought about by the 2008 economic recession, especially its implications for later life well-being, this project with Dr. Susan McDaniel and Dr. Karen Duncan qualitatively explored the relationships between income inequality and health among Americans and Canadians in mid-life as they anticipated their later life. Select research questions of interest included:
1. To what extent do well-being risks exist both for those who will be in later life in the coming decades and those responsible for their supports?;
2. Is a new intergenerational contract emerging?;
3. What are the policy implications of increasing income inequalities over the life courses of those now in mid-life as they age in the differing policy contexts of Canada and the U.S.?
(SSHRC funded, Grant no. 410-2010-0814). Findings are published in the Journal of Aging Studies and Current Sociology.
Managing Poverty Intergenerationally in Diverse Families: Piecing Together a Network of Social Support (Principal Investigator)(2008-2012)
This qualitative project with Dr. Ingrid Waldron and Dr. Susan McDaniel explored how 20 diverse families (70 participants in total) managed low income through networks of social support. The importance of this research was contextualized by the growing gap between the rich and poor, the increasing racialization of poverty, and the changing welfare state in Canadian society. Each family member was interviewed to understand:
1. The kind of support that receive and give to one another: formal (e.g. state) or informal (e.g. family and friends)
2. The type of support given and received: instrumental (e.g. financial, physical assistance) or expressive (e.g. guidance, advice)
3. The quality of supports given and received
4. Whether and how especially intergenerational are exchanges of instrumental and expressive support ameliorating or exacerbating income insecurity
(SSHRC funded: Grant no. 410-2007-1071). Findings published in the Journal of Family Issues, Canadian Review of Social Policy, Canadian Journal of Aging and Journal of Poverty.
*all projects are and were approved by the York University Office of Research Ethics Human Participants Review Committee
