An Analysis of Canadian Social Welfare Historical Writing

Abstract

The writing of Canadian social welfare history is examined in three stages. Until circa 1970, the literature tends to portray sympathetically social welfare's underlying motives. The next stage, or a "new social history" (ca. 1970-81), is more critical, with a particular frame of reference on socioeconomic class relations. A more diverse third stage (post-ca. 1980) expands the number and variety of topics beyond firstand second-stage writing and challenges many previous assumptions, especially regarding power and human agency. Future avenues of research also are considered, particularly the need to emphasize diversity, and a Canadian identity, more explicitly as historical phenomena.