Between Protection and Activation: People with Disabilities in the Social Investment State

Authors

  • Lucie Dumais Professor of Social Work, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM)
  • Léonie Archambault Research professional, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15353/cjds.v4i2.210

Keywords:

Social investment state, Employment and Income policies, Activation of the Workforce, Disability Movement, Québec’s welfare state

Abstract

Federal and provincial employment and income policies in the field of disability within the evolution of Québec’s welfare state are reviewed from the analytical perspective of the social investment state. The use of the social investment state concept allows the authors to reflect on the paradoxes associated with the demands of the disability movement and the responses of the state. The authors demonstrate that the logic of social investment and activation of the workforce yielded gains consistent with the disability movement’s claims, allowing people with disabilities to use their potential and find fulfillment in the labor market while often improving their financial conditions. However, it is argued that the social investment perspective offers a less suitable response for those permanently excluded from the labor market, especially Social Solidarity Program recipients who benefit only from meager financial protection. While early impact analyses of measures designed to equalize opportunities and activate the workforce do not really show the expected results, the latest statistics available for people with disabilities reflect moderate, but tangible results in terms of reducing the number of members of a household living beneath the low-income cut-off and increasing the employment rate for persons with disabilities.

Author Biographies

Lucie Dumais, Professor of Social Work, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM)

Sociologist and political scientist, Professor of Social Policy at the School of Social Work at the Université du Québec à Montréal, and  Co-director of Laboratoire de recherche sur les pratiques et les politiques sociales (LAREPPS) with Pr. Christian Jetté, she has carried out research and evaluative studies in such areas as social policies, disability studies, social housing and occupational health, in interdisciplinary settings and  university-community partnerships (with unions and community groups).

Léonie Archambault, Research professional, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM)

PhD student at McGill’s psychiatry department, she holds a bachelor’s and a master’s in social work from the Université du Québec à Montréal. As a research assistant, she has worked mainly on social policies in the field of disability as well as on the issues related to ongoing training as a service integration strategy in the field of concurrent mental health and addiction disorders.

You can click on this image to open the issue. Image depicts a small wheelchair made out of a folded origami dollar bill sitting on a wood table.

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How to Cite

Dumais, L., & Archambault, L. (2015). Between Protection and Activation: People with Disabilities in the Social Investment State. Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, 4(2), 77–105. https://doi.org/10.15353/cjds.v4i2.210

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 2 (2015)

Section

Articles

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