Transcript The Lost Decade

The Lost Decade
The Social Economy in Ontario
High School Business Textbooks
1995-2005
Erica McCollum
Daniel Schugurensky
OISE/UT, April 2007
Two Questions to Keep in
Mind
1854 Herbert Spencer:
“What knowledge is of most worth?”
1991 Michael Apple:
“Whose knowledge is of most worth?"
Representation of S.E. in HS
textbooks
Study 1
1995 Jack Quarter, Alison Davidson and B.J.
Richmond
Study 2
2005 Erica McCollum and Daniel Schugurensky
Study 1: 1995
Social Economy Sector
Pages in Textbooks
Co-operatives
0.25 %
Non-profits in public service
0.31 %
Mutual non-profits
0.08 %
Unions
1.86%
Worker participation
0.05 %
Davidson, Richmond and Quarter (1996)
Study 1: 1995
Main finding:
General bias against the social economy
Study 2 - 2005
Categories for social economy used from
1995 study
22 texts currently in use in Ontario high
school business classes
5 categories of texts: General Business,
Economics, Entrepreneurship, Business
English, Marketing
Co-operatives
82% of texts mentioned co-operatives
(1995-62%)
54% provided a discussion of at least a
paragraph (1995-53%)
Coverage did not exceed a discussion or a
case study. Total: (35pp)
Business English had highest proportion of
text dedicated to co-operatives
Non-Profits in Public Service
86% of texts mentioned non-profits (1995-26%)
77% provided coverage of at least a paragraph
(1995-26%)
2 Chapters (CS) on the topic in one text. Total:
(70 pp)
Entrepreneurship texts provided the most
extensive coverage
Mutual Non-Profits
91% of texts provided a mention (1995-38%)
73% coverage beyond a paragraph (1995-15%)
 Coverage did not exceed a discussion. Total:
(28 pp)
Marketing texts provided highest coverage
Unions
45% of texts mentioned the topic (1995-71%)
27% of the texts gave coverage beyond a
paragraph (1995-68%)
When the topic was discussed coverage was
extensive. Total: (66 pp)
Economic texts provided highest coverage
Reformist Trends in Private
Sector
55% of texts mentioned this topic (1995-26%)
27% provided at least a paragraph (1995-15%)
Coverage reached up to a section of a chapter.
Total: (15pp)
General business texts, highest coverage
Encouraging Worker
Participation
QUIZ
 “Model for the future”
1. Treats employees as partners
2. Encourages employees to question
3. Involves workers in decision-making process
Nickles et al., Understanding Canadian Business, 2003: 376-378.
Overall Representation of
Social Economy in Textbooks
Topic
1995
2005
Co-operatives
0.25 % 0.31%
Non-profits in the
public service
Mutual non-profits
0.31% 0.65%
Unions
1.86% 0.58%
Reformist trends
0.05% 0.13%
Social Economy
2.55% 1.92%
0.08% 0.25%
So What?
“The social economy is absent in
economics textbooks because it is
insignificant in the economic world.”
How significant is the social economy?
Co-operatives Internationally
Over 700 million members in 100 countries.
U.S.A:
The top 100 co-operatives had 1996 sales of over
US$ 100 billion.
In USA more citizens are co-op members than
own stock market shares.
Over 2 million residents of New York City live in
co-operative housing.
Co-operatives in Canada
Over 9,000 co-operatives, 155,000
employees and 190 billion in assets.
Canada has the highest per capita membership in
credit unions of any country in the world (33% of
the population).
12 million Canadians belong to at least one cooperative.
 Long-term survival rate of co-operative
enterprises is almost twice that of investor-owned
companies.
Non-profits in Canada
161,000 incorporated non-profits
Revenues: $112 billion
Paid staff: 2 million people (54% full-time)
Volunteers equivalent to 1 million full-time jobs
About 7.1% of the GDP
Social impact: poverty alleviation, local economy,
community development, social justice, health,
recreation, environment, etc.
Cleveland study (2004-2007): Quality of non-profit
child care programs better than for-profit ones
University Textbooks
1989 Lori Lynch, Marilee Urban and Robert Sommer: "Deemphasis on Cooperatives in Introductory Economics
Textbooks”
1996 Edgar Parnell: “Co-operative form of business largely ignored
in textbooks”
2000 Roderick Hill: “In most introductory textbooks, co-operative
economic organizations are either entirely ignored or receive
only a passing mention"
2004 John Chamard: “Dominant paradigm is investor-owned, for
profit businesses competing for market share and profit; few
graduates of business programs are well prepared to manage in
a co-operative environment”
Eclipse of a Subject
2006 Panu Kalmi: “The disappearance of cooperatives from economics textbooks”
22 economic textbooks, 1905-2005
“The quantity and quality of the discussion on
co-operatives was much greater in books
published before the second world war than
in the post-war books”
First author to ignore co-operatives in an
introductory economics textbook: Paul
Samuelson
Conclusions 1
Social economy organizations make
significant contributions to the economy and
to society. Based on size and economic reach
alone, co-operatives and nonprofits are a
significant feature of Canada’s everyday life.
They are significant employers, and are forms
of business organizations recognized by the
government of Canada.
Conclusions 2
In high school business and economics
textbooks used in Ontario, this economic
reality is largely ignored. Hence, there is a
gap between the Canadian business and
economic reality, and what students are
seeing in high school business and
economics textbooks. Re-phrasing
Spencer’s question, we can ask: "Why is
this knowledge of least worth?”
Conclusions 3
One of the main purposes of education
is to broaden horizons and
perspectives; it is about opening up
possibilities and alternatives. An
absence of content on the social
economy in high school business and
economics textbooks narrows the
learning opportunities instead of
expanding them.
Lost Decade:
The More, The Less
The GDP of the Social Economy in Canada
has grown in last decade and keeps growing.
Overall representation of social economy in
high school business and economics
textbooks decreased in the last decade.
Suggestions
1. Replicate HS study in other jurisdictions
2. Conduct 100-year longitudinal study of HS
textbooks similar to Kalmi study
3. Conduct 1995/2005 HS study in 2015
4. Create network of textbook writers,
educators, publishers, students, key social
economy actors and public at large so that
in 2015 we do not find the same situation
again
Thank You!
Erica McCollum
Daniel Schugurensky
High School Textbook Project
Social Economy Centre, OISE/UT
http://socialeconomy.utoronto.ca
For references, see paper.