The Lost DecadeThe 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

Davidson, Richmond and Quarter (1996)

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 %

Study 1: 1995

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

Co-operatives 0.25 % 0.31%

Non-profits in the public service

0.31% 0.65%

Mutual non-profits 0.08% 0.25%

Unions 1.86% 0.58%

Reformist trends 0.05% 0.13%

Social Economy 2.55% 1.92%

Topic 1995 2005

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 co-operative.

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: "De-emphasis 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 co-operatives 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 jurisdictions2. Conduct 100-year longitudinal study of HS

textbooks similar to Kalmi study3. Conduct 1995/2005 HS study in 20154. 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.