Stephanie Ann Ross
Associate Professor
Office: Ross Building
Phone: 416 736 5054
Email: stephr@yorku.ca
My research and teaching engage the theme of how ordinary people make social change through collective action in the face of powerful forces to the contrary. My work has been most preoccupied with the question of how such movements can effectively create more egalitarian socioeconomic arrangements while also fostering deep forms of democratic participation. Since 2005, I have been exploring the practice of social unionism in the Canadian labour movement and assessing the extent to which labour activism beyond the workplace is helping to revitalize workers' power.
Degrees
Ph. D., Political Science, York UniversityM.A., Institute of Political Economy, Carleton University
B.A. Hons., Political Science, Carleton University
Professional Leadership
Co-Director, Global Labour Research Centre, 2013-2018
Program Coordinator, Work & Labour Studies Program, 2009-present
President, Canadian Association for Work and Labour Studies, 2013-present
Communications Officer, York University Faculty Association
Research Interests
- Eugene A. Forsey Prize in Canadian Labour and Working Class History (for best graduate dissertation in Canada), Canadian Committee on Labour History. - 2007
with Larry Savage, (eds.), Rethinking the Politics of Labour in Canada. Labour in Canada Series Volume 1. Halifax: Fernwood.
“Business Unionism and Social Unionism in Theory and Practice.” In S. Ross and L. Savage (eds.), Rethinking the Politics of Labour in Canada (33-46). Halifax: Fernwood.
"Is This What Democracy Looks Like? The Politics of the Anti-Globalization Movement in North America”, in L. Panitch and C. Leys (eds.), Socialist Register 2003: Fighting Identities: Race, Religion and Ethno-Nationalism. London: Merlin Press, 2002: 281-304.
Review of Canadian Labour in Crisis by David Camfield, in Socialist Studies Journal 8.1 (2012): 306-309.
Review of Human Rights: Social Justice in the Age of the Market by Koen De Feyter, in Labour / Le Travail 60, Fall 2007
Review of Labour Left Out: Canada’s Failure to Protect and Promote Collective Bargaining as a Human Right by Roy J. Adams, for Socialist Studies Journal 3 (2), 2007
Review of Social Movements: Identity, Culture and the State by David S. Meyer, Nancy Whittier and Belinda Robnett, eds., in Canadian Review of Social Policy 56, Spring 2006
Review of Getting By in Hard Times: Gendered Labour at Home and on the Job by Meg Luxton and June Corman, in Canadian Journal of Political Science, March 2003
"Social Unionism in Hard Times: Union-Community Coalition Politics in the CAW Windsor’s Manufacturing Matters Campaign." Labour / Le Travail 68 (Fall 2011), 79-115.
with Dennis Pilon and Larry Savage. "Solidarity Revisited: Organized Labour and the New Democratic Party." Canadian Review of Political Science 5.1 (2011): 20-37.
with Derek Hrynyshyn, "Canadian Autoworkers, the Climate Crisis and the Contradictions of Social Unionism" Labor Studies Journal 36.1 (2010), special issue on Labor and the Environment: 5-36.
“Anti-Statism in the Global Justice Movement: Strategic Implications”, in Labour, Capital and Society 41.1, special issue on “Re-visiting Resistance”, (2008): 6-32.
“Social Unionism and Membership Participation: What Role for Union Democracy?”, in Studies in Political Economy 81 (Spring 2008): 129-157.
“The Varieties of Social Unionism: Towards a Framework for Comparison”, in Just Labour 11 (Fall 2007): 16-34.
with Ron Drouillard, “Dissent in a time of crisis: Windsor workers' action centre opens new spaces for progressive organizing”, Canadian Dimension 63 (3), May-June 2009.
“An Agenda for Change? CUPE Ontario’s 2007 Convention”, Relay 18 (July-August 2007): 26-7.
“Union Activism and CUPE: A Further Reply”, Relay 18 (July-August 2007): 29-30
with Derek Hrynyshyn, “Canadian Autoworkers and the Climate Crisis”, panel on Labor and the Environment (Labor Studies Journal special session) , presented at the United Association of Labor Educators annual conference, San Diego, California, March 24th -27th, 2010
“The Greater Toronto Workers’ Assembly: Lessons, Prospects, Challenges”, presented at Taking Stock: The Crisis and Political Change, Studies in Political Economy annual conference, Carleton University, Ottawa, January 29th, 2010
“Days of Action, Years of Faction? The Effects of the Ontario Days of Action on the Ontario Labour Movement”, panel on Ontario Policy and Politics, presented at the Canadian Political Science Association annual conference, Carleton University, Ottawa, May 27th - 29th, 2009
“Canada’s ‘Community Union’? The Contradictions and Possibilities in CUPE’s Approach to Social Unionism”, panel on North American Labour Struggles, Historical Materialism North American Conference, York University, Toronto, April 24th - 26th, 2008
“Social Unionism in Hard Times: The Impact of Manufacturing Decline on CAW Political Strategy”, panel on Manufacturing Matters: The Crisis of Manufacturing in Canada and its Impact on Work, Workplace and Workers, presented at the Canadian Industrial Relations Association annual conference, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, June 4th-6th, 2008
“The Contradictions of Social Unionism in the Canadian Auto Workers”, panel on “Labour Movement Renewal in an Era of Corporate Globalization”, presented at the Canadian Political Science Association annual conference, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, June 4th-6th, 2008
“Union Struggles in the Public Sector”, panel on “Public Sector Unions”, Solidarity Forever: Obstacles and Challenges Facing Organized Labour, Centre for Labour Studies / CUPE 4207's 3rd Annual Labour Studies Conference, Brock University, St. Catharines, March 14, 2008
“The Varieties of Social Unionism: Mapping Canadian Labour’s Renewal Strategies”, panel on “Labour and Social Movements”, New Voices in Labour Studies in Canada workshop, Trent University / Centre for Research on Work and Society, Peterborough, October 27th-28th, 2006
“The Implications of Anti-Statism in the Global Justice Movement”, panel on “Confronting the State in the Era of Neoliberal Hegemony”, Canadian Political Science Association annual conference, York University, Toronto, June 1st - 3rd, 2006
“‘The Past Doesn’t Go Anywhere’: Lessons about Structure and Democracy from CUPE’s History”, panel on “Public Sector Unionism in Canada”, Society for Socialist Studies / Canadian Industrial Relations Association annual conference, University of Western Ontario, London, June 2nd - 5th, 2005
“Social Unionism and Membership Participation: What Role for Union Democracy?", panel on “Canadian Labour at the Cross-Roads: Rethinking Strategies for Labour”, Canadian Political Science Association annual conference, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, June 3rd- 5th, 2004
“Are anti-globalization politics at an impasse?”, American Empire, Neoliberalism and Resistance symposium, York University, November 3rd- 4th, 2003
“The Counterhegemonic Possibilities of the North American Anti-Globalization Movement”, Hegemony Today: Between Neoliberalism and Empire workshop, Institute of Political Economy, Carleton University, August 8th, 2003
“The Gendered Implications of Structure in the Canadian Union of Public Employees”, presented at the Women and Work after World War Two colloquium, McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, Montreal, March 21st, 2003
“‘Schools of Proletarian Self-Government’: The Importance of Union Democracy to a Socialist Future”, panel on “Socialist Democracy: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives” at the Society for Socialist Studies annual conference, Dalhousie University, Halifax, June 2nd, 2003
“Is This What ‘Democracy’ Looks Like? The Politics of the Anti-Globalization Movement”, presented at the Canadian Political Science Association annual conference, University of Toronto / Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada, May 29th-June 2nd, 2002
“Comparing Union Renewal in Canada and the United States: Converging Around Limited Strategies?”, presented at the Convergence and Divergence in North America: Canada and the United States Interdisciplinary Colloquium, Centre for Canadian Studies-Association for Canadian Studies in the United States, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada, October 29th-30th, 2004
My research and teaching engage the theme of how ordinary people make social change through collective action in the face of powerful forces to the contrary. My work has been most preoccupied with the question of how such movements can effectively create more egalitarian socioeconomic arrangements while also fostering deep forms of democratic participation. Since 2005, I have been exploring the practice of social unionism in the Canadian labour movement and assessing the extent to which labour activism beyond the workplace is helping to revitalize workers' power.
Degrees
Ph. D., Political Science, York UniversityM.A., Institute of Political Economy, Carleton University
B.A. Hons., Political Science, Carleton University
Professional Leadership
Co-Director, Global Labour Research Centre, 2013-2018
Program Coordinator, Work & Labour Studies Program, 2009-present
President, Canadian Association for Work and Labour Studies, 2013-present
Communications Officer, York University Faculty Association
Research Interests
Awards
- Eugene A. Forsey Prize in Canadian Labour and Working Class History (for best graduate dissertation in Canada), Canadian Committee on Labour History. - 2007
All Publications
“Business Unionism and Social Unionism in Theory and Practice.” In S. Ross and L. Savage (eds.), Rethinking the Politics of Labour in Canada (33-46). Halifax: Fernwood.
"Is This What Democracy Looks Like? The Politics of the Anti-Globalization Movement in North America”, in L. Panitch and C. Leys (eds.), Socialist Register 2003: Fighting Identities: Race, Religion and Ethno-Nationalism. London: Merlin Press, 2002: 281-304.
Review of Canadian Labour in Crisis by David Camfield, in Socialist Studies Journal 8.1 (2012): 306-309.
Review of Human Rights: Social Justice in the Age of the Market by Koen De Feyter, in Labour / Le Travail 60, Fall 2007
Review of Labour Left Out: Canada’s Failure to Protect and Promote Collective Bargaining as a Human Right by Roy J. Adams, for Socialist Studies Journal 3 (2), 2007
Review of Social Movements: Identity, Culture and the State by David S. Meyer, Nancy Whittier and Belinda Robnett, eds., in Canadian Review of Social Policy 56, Spring 2006
Review of Getting By in Hard Times: Gendered Labour at Home and on the Job by Meg Luxton and June Corman, in Canadian Journal of Political Science, March 2003
with Larry Savage, (eds.), Rethinking the Politics of Labour in Canada. Labour in Canada Series Volume 1. Halifax: Fernwood.
"Social Unionism in Hard Times: Union-Community Coalition Politics in the CAW Windsor’s Manufacturing Matters Campaign." Labour / Le Travail 68 (Fall 2011), 79-115.
with Dennis Pilon and Larry Savage. "Solidarity Revisited: Organized Labour and the New Democratic Party." Canadian Review of Political Science 5.1 (2011): 20-37.
with Derek Hrynyshyn, "Canadian Autoworkers, the Climate Crisis and the Contradictions of Social Unionism" Labor Studies Journal 36.1 (2010), special issue on Labor and the Environment: 5-36.
“Anti-Statism in the Global Justice Movement: Strategic Implications”, in Labour, Capital and Society 41.1, special issue on “Re-visiting Resistance”, (2008): 6-32.
“Social Unionism and Membership Participation: What Role for Union Democracy?”, in Studies in Political Economy 81 (Spring 2008): 129-157.
“The Varieties of Social Unionism: Towards a Framework for Comparison”, in Just Labour 11 (Fall 2007): 16-34.
with Ron Drouillard, “Dissent in a time of crisis: Windsor workers' action centre opens new spaces for progressive organizing”, Canadian Dimension 63 (3), May-June 2009.
“An Agenda for Change? CUPE Ontario’s 2007 Convention”, Relay 18 (July-August 2007): 26-7.
“Union Activism and CUPE: A Further Reply”, Relay 18 (July-August 2007): 29-30
with Derek Hrynyshyn, “Canadian Autoworkers and the Climate Crisis”, panel on Labor and the Environment (Labor Studies Journal special session) , presented at the United Association of Labor Educators annual conference, San Diego, California, March 24th -27th, 2010
“The Greater Toronto Workers’ Assembly: Lessons, Prospects, Challenges”, presented at Taking Stock: The Crisis and Political Change, Studies in Political Economy annual conference, Carleton University, Ottawa, January 29th, 2010
“Days of Action, Years of Faction? The Effects of the Ontario Days of Action on the Ontario Labour Movement”, panel on Ontario Policy and Politics, presented at the Canadian Political Science Association annual conference, Carleton University, Ottawa, May 27th - 29th, 2009
“Canada’s ‘Community Union’? The Contradictions and Possibilities in CUPE’s Approach to Social Unionism”, panel on North American Labour Struggles, Historical Materialism North American Conference, York University, Toronto, April 24th - 26th, 2008
“Social Unionism in Hard Times: The Impact of Manufacturing Decline on CAW Political Strategy”, panel on Manufacturing Matters: The Crisis of Manufacturing in Canada and its Impact on Work, Workplace and Workers, presented at the Canadian Industrial Relations Association annual conference, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, June 4th-6th, 2008
“The Contradictions of Social Unionism in the Canadian Auto Workers”, panel on “Labour Movement Renewal in an Era of Corporate Globalization”, presented at the Canadian Political Science Association annual conference, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, June 4th-6th, 2008
“Union Struggles in the Public Sector”, panel on “Public Sector Unions”, Solidarity Forever: Obstacles and Challenges Facing Organized Labour, Centre for Labour Studies / CUPE 4207's 3rd Annual Labour Studies Conference, Brock University, St. Catharines, March 14, 2008
“The Varieties of Social Unionism: Mapping Canadian Labour’s Renewal Strategies”, panel on “Labour and Social Movements”, New Voices in Labour Studies in Canada workshop, Trent University / Centre for Research on Work and Society, Peterborough, October 27th-28th, 2006
“The Implications of Anti-Statism in the Global Justice Movement”, panel on “Confronting the State in the Era of Neoliberal Hegemony”, Canadian Political Science Association annual conference, York University, Toronto, June 1st - 3rd, 2006
“‘The Past Doesn’t Go Anywhere’: Lessons about Structure and Democracy from CUPE’s History”, panel on “Public Sector Unionism in Canada”, Society for Socialist Studies / Canadian Industrial Relations Association annual conference, University of Western Ontario, London, June 2nd - 5th, 2005
“Social Unionism and Membership Participation: What Role for Union Democracy?", panel on “Canadian Labour at the Cross-Roads: Rethinking Strategies for Labour”, Canadian Political Science Association annual conference, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, June 3rd- 5th, 2004
“Are anti-globalization politics at an impasse?”, American Empire, Neoliberalism and Resistance symposium, York University, November 3rd- 4th, 2003
“The Counterhegemonic Possibilities of the North American Anti-Globalization Movement”, Hegemony Today: Between Neoliberalism and Empire workshop, Institute of Political Economy, Carleton University, August 8th, 2003
“The Gendered Implications of Structure in the Canadian Union of Public Employees”, presented at the Women and Work after World War Two colloquium, McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, Montreal, March 21st, 2003
“‘Schools of Proletarian Self-Government’: The Importance of Union Democracy to a Socialist Future”, panel on “Socialist Democracy: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives” at the Society for Socialist Studies annual conference, Dalhousie University, Halifax, June 2nd, 2003
“Is This What ‘Democracy’ Looks Like? The Politics of the Anti-Globalization Movement”, presented at the Canadian Political Science Association annual conference, University of Toronto / Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada, May 29th-June 2nd, 2002
“Comparing Union Renewal in Canada and the United States: Converging Around Limited Strategies?”, presented at the Convergence and Divergence in North America: Canada and the United States Interdisciplinary Colloquium, Centre for Canadian Studies-Association for Canadian Studies in the United States, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada, October 29th-30th, 2004
