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Amber Gazso

Biographic Data

ID290768
NAMEAmber Gazso
GIVEN NAMESAmber
FAMILY NAMEGazso
SIGNATUREGAZSO A
AFFILIATIONSYork University
ORCID0000-0003-3032-288X
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS29
TOTAL CITATIONS93
AUTHOR COUNT29
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2002
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX6
  • Only ever mothers? Or other than mothers? Ambivalence and ‘good’ mothering on welfare in Ontario, Canada

    Amber-Lee Varadi, Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Journal of Family Studies•2026•References: 8

  • (Re-) producing gender-based violence in Canada: The state of things, and the Ontario transitional and housing support program

    Open Access•Madison Brockbank, Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Women s Studies International Forum•2025•Cited by: 2•References: 11

  • Managing More than Poverty When Living With Addiction: Parents' Emotion and Identity Work

    Open Access•Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Journal of Family Issues•2023•References: 45

    In this article, I qualitatively explore the emotion and identity work of parents living with addiction to drugs or alcohol and accessing social assistance, specifically Ontario Works, in Toronto, Canada. Through narrative and discourse analysis of in-depth interviews, I show how parents (re-) produce or (re-) negotiate their identities as mothers and fathers in relation to feeling rules constituted in three broader, cultural discourses about fam…

  • Covid‐19 in the wake of the great recession in Canada and the U.S: Reflections on social reproduction and life courses

    Open Access•Susan A Mcdaniel, Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue…•2021•Cited by: 1•References: 9

  • Dueling discourses, power, and the construction of the recovering addict: When social assistance confronts addiction in Toronto, Canada

    Open Access•Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Critical Social Policy•2020•Cited by: 2•References: 24

    In this article, I undertake a critical discourse analysis of policy documents and in-depth interviews with seven caseworkers and 28 benefit recipients to explore how two discourses, ‘work first’ and ‘distance from the labour market,’ inform how persons living with addiction access and then experience social assistance in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Drawing in Foucauldian insights on power, I reveal the conceptualisation of benefit recipients’ elig…

  • The relationship between child maltreatment and social assistance use: A chain of adversities and transitions from a life course perspective

    Carrie Smith, Tracy A Smith-Carrier et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Public Child Welfare•2019•References: 8

    This study applies the life course perspective to one of the long-term consequences of child maltreatment: specifically, the use of social assistance. While quantitative research has demonstrated a relationship between experiencing maltreatment as a child and economic hardship in adulthood, due to the complexity of these phenomena, the nature of this relationship is not well understood. This study employs the life course perspective and qualitati…

  • Resisting the Culture of Poverty Narrative: Perspectives of Social Assistance Recipients

    Stephanie Baker Collins, Tracy A Smith-Carrier et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Poverty•2019•Cited by: 10•References: 6

    The assumption that “welfare dependency” is passed from generation to generation is persistent in public attitudes. We explore intergenerational transmission of social assistance through perceptions of those in receipt of social assistance for more than one generation through data drawn from interviews with 31 participants from Hamilton, London and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. We explore qualitatively the meanings participants assign to receipt of s…

  • Myth or Reality? Exploring Intergenerational Social Assistance Participation in Ontario, Canada

    Tracy A Smith-Carrier, Amber Gazso et al.•ARTICLE•The Journal of Sociology & Social…•2019

    Is there an intergenerational causal link in social assistance (SA) participation? There is a dearth of research addressing this question, yet the discourse of ‘welfare dependency’ is hegemonic. The limited research that does attempt to tease out a causal link in intergenerational SA participation remains equivocal. Qualitative research is largely absent in welfare scholarship; research that might provide a more nuanced understanding of the dynam…

  • The Generationing of Social Assistance Receipt and 'Welfare Dependency' in Ontario, Canada

    Open Access•Amber Gazso, Stephanie Baker Collins et al.•ARTICLE•Social Problems•2019•References: 34

    Adopting a life course perspective, we explore, qualitatively, how receipt of social assistance in Ontario is generationally experienced. Data are drawn from a study of family and generational relationships with Ontario Works (OW), which included in-depth interviews with 31 participants who also had a child or parent on social assistance; we drew from three Canadian cities: Hamilton, London, and Toronto, Ontario. Our thematic analysis reveals tha…

  • Being Homeless and Becoming Housed: The Interplay of Fateful Moments and Social Support in Neo-liberal Context

    Open Access•Jason Webb, Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Studies in Social Justice•2017•Cited by: 4•References: 27

    This paper presents a qualitative analysis of stories of adults who transitioned from being absolutely homeless to becoming housed. Participants’ stories are particularly salient for what they reveal about this transition in the midst of other challenges including substance use, criminalization, and violence, and within a neo-liberal social policy context. Through strategies of narrative analysis, two interconnected processes of becoming housed a…

  • Networks of Social Support to Manage Poverty: More Changeable than Durable

    Amber Gazso, Susan A Mcdaniel et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Poverty•2016•Cited by: 13•References: 15

    This article focuses on the durability and changeability of networks of social support to manage poverty from a life-course perspective. Drawing on interviews with members of 20 families, the authors explore networks’ origins and changes, the sources of support, and types of supports exchanged. The authors find networks to manage poverty are more likely to be in flux than durable. Intersecting transitions over life courses and shifting availabili…

  • Relative prospects of children as they age: Canadians and Americans in midlife in the great recession frame future generations

    Open Access•Susan A Mcdaniel, Amber Gazso et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Aging Studies•2016•Cited by: 3•References: 17

  • Families by Choice and the Management of Low Income Through Social Supports

    Open Access•Amber Gazso, Susan A Mcdaniel•ARTICLE•Journal of Family Issues•2015•Cited by: 6•References: 36

    Processes of individualization have transformed families in late modernity. Although families may be more opportunistically created, they still face challenges of economic insecurity. In this article, we explore through in-depth qualitative interviews how families by choice manage low income through the instrumental and expressive supports that they give and receive. Two central themes organize our analysis: 'defining/doing family' and 'generatio…

  • Income Inequality and Health Trajectories from Mid-Life to Later Life: Are Canadian and American Differences Widening

    Susan A Mcdaniel, Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•International Journal of Canadian…•2013

    It is well known that policies and welfare regimes differentially affect the aging process, health trajectories over the life course, and indeed life expectancy. Growing income inequalities are also understood to have health and well-being implications. The focus in this paper is on the effects of growing income inequalities on the health and well-being of those in mid-life as they age in two neighbouring countries, Canada and the United States. …

  • Investigating Threat Perception Among Correctional Officers in the Canadian Provincial Correctional System

    Open Access•Rosemary Ricciardelli, Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Qualitative Sociology Review•2013•Cited by: 1•References: 6

    This paper presents findings regarding the perception and experience of threat among correctional officers in the Canadian provincial correctional system. Men employed in provincial remand centers or corrections institutions in diverse provinces across Canada, who interact daily with prisoners, voluntarily participated in detailed 60- to 180-minute in-depth interviews. Analysis of interview transcripts reveals that violence is prevalent and men e…

  • Les disparités en matière de santé au fil du vieillissement: Une comparaison du parcours de vie des premiers baby-boomers et des pré-baby-boomers au Canada

    Susan A Mcdaniel, Amber Gazso et al.•ARTICLE•Sociologie et sociétés•2013•References: 35

    Les disparités en matière de santé au fil du vieillissement : une comparaison du parcours de vie des premiers baby-boomers et des pré-baby-boomers au Canada. Un article de la revue Sociologie et sociétés (Inégalités, parcours de vie et politiques publiques) diffusée par la plateforme Érudit

  • Generationing relations in challenging times: Americans and Canadians in mid-life in the Great Recession

    Open Access•Susan A Mcdaniel, Amber Gazso et al.•ARTICLE•Current Sociology•2013•Cited by: 6•References: 18

    Generation can be seen as a crossroads where multiple socioeconomic influences intersect with individual life courses. Conceptualized as a process, performed dynamically and relationally, rather than a static category, generationing builds self-identities and concepts of how the social order is expected to work. In this article the authors ask how the multilayered processes of generationing, as experienced by those in mid-life, are affected by th…

  • Moral Codes of Mothering and the Introduction of Welfare‐to‐Work in O ntario

    Open Access•Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue…•2012•Cited by: 6•References: 14

    In this paper, I trace how the reform of social assistance in Ontario, especially the post-1990s enforcement of lone mothers' employability via welfare-to-work programs, parallels shifts in dominant moral codes of mothering, from "mother-carer" to "mother-worker." Additionally, I use this case as an entry point to consider the implications of public and policy allegiance to these moral codes for all mothers. The central argument I make is that th…

  • The risks of being a lone mother on income support in Canada and the USA

    Open Access•Amber Gazso, Susan A Mcdaniel•ARTICLE•International Journal of…•2010•Cited by: 13•References: 48

    Purpose This paper aims to explore how neo‐liberalism shapes income support policy and lone mothers' experiences in Canada and the USA. Design/methodology/approach A critical comparative analysis is undertaken of how Canadian and US governments take up sociological concepts of risk, market citizenship, and individualization, whether explicitly or implicitly, in the design and administration of neo‐liberal income support policies directed at lone …

  • Reinvigorating the debate: Questioning the assumptions about and models of “the family” in Canadian social assistance policy

    Open Access•Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Women s Studies International Forum•2009•Cited by: 2•References: 11

  • Gendering the 'responsible risk taker: Citizenship Relationships With Gender-Neutral Social Assistance Policy

    Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Citizenship Studies•2009•Cited by: 2•References: 28

    This paper explores the gendered relationships among reforms to social assistance policy, concurrent transformations in citizenship rights to benefits, and low-income parents' experiences of these changes in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. Policy discourse in all three provinces increasingly constructs mothers and fathers as 'responsible risk takers' who are entitled to income support conditional on their em…

  • Taking a life Course Perspective on Social Assistance use in Canada: A different approach

    Open Access•Martin Cooke, Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•The Canadian Journal of Sociology•2008•Cited by: 2

    In this paper we argue that a life course perspective on social assistance use in Canada can offer a more nuanced theoretical understanding of both individuals' experiences and the importance of social structure, than more traditional sociological or economic approaches to welfare use. We also propose that examining social assistance use in this way does not require longitudinal quantitative or qualitative data, as is sometimes suggested, but tha…

  • Gendering the Vertical Mosaic: Feminist Perspectives on Canadian Society (review)

    Open Access•Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•The Canadian Journal of Sociology•2005

    Reviewed by: Gendering the Vertical Mosaic: Feminist Perspectives on Canadian Society Amber Gazso Roberta Hamilton , Gendering the Vertical Mosaic: Feminist Perspectives on Canadian Society. 2nd edition. Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005, 248 pp. Many scholars often experience some confusion upon being first introduced to feminist theorizing on the hierarchies that characterize women's and men's structural positions and agency in historical an…

  • Seeing Beyond the Ruins: Surveillance as a Response to Terrorist Threats

    Open Access•Kevin D Haggerty, Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•The Canadian Journal of Sociology•2005

    Following the September 11th terrorist attacks, the notion that "everything has changed" became a common theme. This paper argues that one of the most important areas of change occurred in the practice of surveillance. Utilizing news articles from the New York Times and Toronto Globe and Mail, we analyze the politics and social dynamics of contemporary surveillance. Our analysis is not a study of terrorism and September 11th per se, but rather us…

  • Seeing beyond the Ruins: Surveillance as a Response to Terrorist Threats

    Open Access•Kevin D Haggerty, Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•The Canadian Journal of Sociology•2005•Cited by: 8

    Kevin D. Haggerty, Amber Gazso, Seeing beyond the Ruins: Surveillance as a Response to Terrorist Threats, The Canadian Journal of Sociology / Cahiers canadiens de sociologie, Vol. 30, No. 2 (Spring, 2005), pp. 169-187

Next
  • Networks of Social Support to Manage Poverty: More Changeable than Durable

    Amber Gazso, Susan A Mcdaniel et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Poverty•2016•Cited by: 13•References: 15

    This article focuses on the durability and changeability of networks of social support to manage poverty from a life-course perspective. Drawing on interviews with members of 20 families, the authors explore networks’ origins and changes, the sources of support, and types of supports exchanged. The authors find networks to manage poverty are more likely to be in flux than durable. Intersecting transitions over life courses and shifting availabili…

  • The risks of being a lone mother on income support in Canada and the USA

    Open Access•Amber Gazso, Susan A Mcdaniel•ARTICLE•International Journal of…•2010•Cited by: 13•References: 48

    Purpose This paper aims to explore how neo‐liberalism shapes income support policy and lone mothers' experiences in Canada and the USA. Design/methodology/approach A critical comparative analysis is undertaken of how Canadian and US governments take up sociological concepts of risk, market citizenship, and individualization, whether explicitly or implicitly, in the design and administration of neo‐liberal income support policies directed at lone …

  • Resisting the Culture of Poverty Narrative: Perspectives of Social Assistance Recipients

    Stephanie Baker Collins, Tracy A Smith-Carrier et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Poverty•2019•Cited by: 10•References: 6

    The assumption that “welfare dependency” is passed from generation to generation is persistent in public attitudes. We explore intergenerational transmission of social assistance through perceptions of those in receipt of social assistance for more than one generation through data drawn from interviews with 31 participants from Hamilton, London and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. We explore qualitatively the meanings participants assign to receipt of s…

  • Seeing beyond the Ruins: Surveillance as a Response to Terrorist Threats

    Open Access•Kevin D Haggerty, Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•The Canadian Journal of Sociology•2005•Cited by: 8

    Kevin D. Haggerty, Amber Gazso, Seeing beyond the Ruins: Surveillance as a Response to Terrorist Threats, The Canadian Journal of Sociology / Cahiers canadiens de sociologie, Vol. 30, No. 2 (Spring, 2005), pp. 169-187

  • Women's Inequality in the Workplace as Framed in News Discourse: Refracting from Gender Ideology

    Open Access•Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue…•2004•Cited by: 8•References: 6

    Cet article examine les découvertes d'une analyse du schéma interprétatif du discours journalistique sur l'inégalité des femmes sur les lieux de travail dans The Globe and Mail et le National Post de novembre 2000 à novembre 2002. Les articles de journaux ont été analysés d'après la façon dont ils sont encadrés et, par la suite, selon la manière dont ils créent le genre en tant que structure sociale. On a découvert que le cadrage des expériences …

  • Families by Choice and the Management of Low Income Through Social Supports

    Open Access•Amber Gazso, Susan A Mcdaniel•ARTICLE•Journal of Family Issues•2015•Cited by: 6•References: 36

    Processes of individualization have transformed families in late modernity. Although families may be more opportunistically created, they still face challenges of economic insecurity. In this article, we explore through in-depth qualitative interviews how families by choice manage low income through the instrumental and expressive supports that they give and receive. Two central themes organize our analysis: 'defining/doing family' and 'generatio…

  • Generationing relations in challenging times: Americans and Canadians in mid-life in the Great Recession

    Open Access•Susan A Mcdaniel, Amber Gazso et al.•ARTICLE•Current Sociology•2013•Cited by: 6•References: 18

    Generation can be seen as a crossroads where multiple socioeconomic influences intersect with individual life courses. Conceptualized as a process, performed dynamically and relationally, rather than a static category, generationing builds self-identities and concepts of how the social order is expected to work. In this article the authors ask how the multilayered processes of generationing, as experienced by those in mid-life, are affected by th…

  • Moral Codes of Mothering and the Introduction of Welfare‐to‐Work in O ntario

    Open Access•Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue…•2012•Cited by: 6•References: 14

    In this paper, I trace how the reform of social assistance in Ontario, especially the post-1990s enforcement of lone mothers' employability via welfare-to-work programs, parallels shifts in dominant moral codes of mothering, from "mother-carer" to "mother-worker." Additionally, I use this case as an entry point to consider the implications of public and policy allegiance to these moral codes for all mothers. The central argument I make is that th…

  • Being Homeless and Becoming Housed: The Interplay of Fateful Moments and Social Support in Neo-liberal Context

    Open Access•Jason Webb, Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Studies in Social Justice•2017•Cited by: 4•References: 27

    This paper presents a qualitative analysis of stories of adults who transitioned from being absolutely homeless to becoming housed. Participants’ stories are particularly salient for what they reveal about this transition in the midst of other challenges including substance use, criminalization, and violence, and within a neo-liberal social policy context. Through strategies of narrative analysis, two interconnected processes of becoming housed a…

  • Relative prospects of children as they age: Canadians and Americans in midlife in the great recession frame future generations

    Open Access•Susan A Mcdaniel, Amber Gazso et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Aging Studies•2016•Cited by: 3•References: 17

  • Gendering the Vertical Mosaic: Feminist Perspectives on Canadian Society

    Open Access•Amber Gazso, Roberta Hamilton•ARTICLE•The Canadian Journal of Sociology•2005•Cited by: 3

  • (Re-) producing gender-based violence in Canada: The state of things, and the Ontario transitional and housing support program

    Open Access•Madison Brockbank, Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Women s Studies International Forum•2025•Cited by: 2•References: 11

  • Dueling discourses, power, and the construction of the recovering addict: When social assistance confronts addiction in Toronto, Canada

    Open Access•Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Critical Social Policy•2020•Cited by: 2•References: 24

    In this article, I undertake a critical discourse analysis of policy documents and in-depth interviews with seven caseworkers and 28 benefit recipients to explore how two discourses, ‘work first’ and ‘distance from the labour market,’ inform how persons living with addiction access and then experience social assistance in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Drawing in Foucauldian insights on power, I reveal the conceptualisation of benefit recipients’ elig…

  • Reinvigorating the debate: Questioning the assumptions about and models of “the family” in Canadian social assistance policy

    Open Access•Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Women s Studies International Forum•2009•Cited by: 2•References: 11

  • Gendering the 'responsible risk taker: Citizenship Relationships With Gender-Neutral Social Assistance Policy

    Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Citizenship Studies•2009•Cited by: 2•References: 28

    This paper explores the gendered relationships among reforms to social assistance policy, concurrent transformations in citizenship rights to benefits, and low-income parents' experiences of these changes in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. Policy discourse in all three provinces increasingly constructs mothers and fathers as 'responsible risk takers' who are entitled to income support conditional on their em…

  • Taking a life Course Perspective on Social Assistance use in Canada: A different approach

    Open Access•Martin Cooke, Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•The Canadian Journal of Sociology•2008•Cited by: 2

    In this paper we argue that a life course perspective on social assistance use in Canada can offer a more nuanced theoretical understanding of both individuals' experiences and the importance of social structure, than more traditional sociological or economic approaches to welfare use. We also propose that examining social assistance use in this way does not require longitudinal quantitative or qualitative data, as is sometimes suggested, but tha…

  • Covid‐19 in the wake of the great recession in Canada and the U.S: Reflections on social reproduction and life courses

    Open Access•Susan A Mcdaniel, Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue…•2021•Cited by: 1•References: 9

  • Investigating Threat Perception Among Correctional Officers in the Canadian Provincial Correctional System

    Open Access•Rosemary Ricciardelli, Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Qualitative Sociology Review•2013•Cited by: 1•References: 6

    This paper presents findings regarding the perception and experience of threat among correctional officers in the Canadian provincial correctional system. Men employed in provincial remand centers or corrections institutions in diverse provinces across Canada, who interact daily with prisoners, voluntarily participated in detailed 60- to 180-minute in-depth interviews. Analysis of interview transcripts reveals that violence is prevalent and men e…

  • The Poverty of Unattached Senior Women and the Canadian Retirement Income System: A Matter of Blame or Contradiction

    Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•The Journal of Sociology & Social…•2005•Cited by: 1

    Structural and financial inadequacy of Canada's retirement income system, especially with respect to income support benefits (i.e. Old Age Security), are often identified as one major reason unattached senior women experience poverty. While it may be compelling to blame low benefit levels and changing eligibility requirements, particularly because 'crisis' policy discourses have influenced questionable restructuring over time (i.e. the clawback),…

  • The Public Politics of Opinion Research on Surveillance and Privacy

    Open Access•Kevin D Haggerty, Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Surveillance & Society•2002•References: 7

    This paper examines the political implications of methodological issues related to the now ubiquitous production of surveys dealing with issues of privacy and surveillance. It concentrates on how the distinctive attributes of a survey's response rate can skew the findings of such studies. The conclusion offers suggestions for how academics and activists might respond to this issue

  • Women's Inequality in the Workplace as Framed in News Discourse: Refracting from Gender Ideology

    Open Access•Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue…•2004•Cited by: 8•References: 6

    Cet article examine les découvertes d'une analyse du schéma interprétatif du discours journalistique sur l'inégalité des femmes sur les lieux de travail dans The Globe and Mail et le National Post de novembre 2000 à novembre 2002. Les articles de journaux ont été analysés d'après la façon dont ils sont encadrés et, par la suite, selon la manière dont ils créent le genre en tant que structure sociale. On a découvert que le cadrage des expériences …

  • Gendering the Vertical Mosaic: Feminist Perspectives on Canadian Society (review)

    Open Access•Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•The Canadian Journal of Sociology•2005

    Reviewed by: Gendering the Vertical Mosaic: Feminist Perspectives on Canadian Society Amber Gazso Roberta Hamilton , Gendering the Vertical Mosaic: Feminist Perspectives on Canadian Society. 2nd edition. Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005, 248 pp. Many scholars often experience some confusion upon being first introduced to feminist theorizing on the hierarchies that characterize women's and men's structural positions and agency in historical an…

  • Seeing Beyond the Ruins: Surveillance as a Response to Terrorist Threats

    Open Access•Kevin D Haggerty, Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•The Canadian Journal of Sociology•2005

    Following the September 11th terrorist attacks, the notion that "everything has changed" became a common theme. This paper argues that one of the most important areas of change occurred in the practice of surveillance. Utilizing news articles from the New York Times and Toronto Globe and Mail, we analyze the politics and social dynamics of contemporary surveillance. Our analysis is not a study of terrorism and September 11th per se, but rather us…

  • Seeing beyond the Ruins: Surveillance as a Response to Terrorist Threats

    Open Access•Kevin D Haggerty, Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•The Canadian Journal of Sociology•2005•Cited by: 8

    Kevin D. Haggerty, Amber Gazso, Seeing beyond the Ruins: Surveillance as a Response to Terrorist Threats, The Canadian Journal of Sociology / Cahiers canadiens de sociologie, Vol. 30, No. 2 (Spring, 2005), pp. 169-187

  • Gendering the Vertical Mosaic: Feminist Perspectives on Canadian Society

    Open Access•Amber Gazso, Roberta Hamilton•ARTICLE•The Canadian Journal of Sociology•2005•Cited by: 3

  • The Poverty of Unattached Senior Women and the Canadian Retirement Income System: A Matter of Blame or Contradiction

    Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•The Journal of Sociology & Social…•2005•Cited by: 1

    Structural and financial inadequacy of Canada's retirement income system, especially with respect to income support benefits (i.e. Old Age Security), are often identified as one major reason unattached senior women experience poverty. While it may be compelling to blame low benefit levels and changing eligibility requirements, particularly because 'crisis' policy discourses have influenced questionable restructuring over time (i.e. the clawback),…

  • Taking a life Course Perspective on Social Assistance use in Canada: A different approach

    Open Access•Martin Cooke, Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•The Canadian Journal of Sociology•2008•Cited by: 2

    In this paper we argue that a life course perspective on social assistance use in Canada can offer a more nuanced theoretical understanding of both individuals' experiences and the importance of social structure, than more traditional sociological or economic approaches to welfare use. We also propose that examining social assistance use in this way does not require longitudinal quantitative or qualitative data, as is sometimes suggested, but tha…

  • Reinvigorating the debate: Questioning the assumptions about and models of “the family” in Canadian social assistance policy

    Open Access•Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Women s Studies International Forum•2009•Cited by: 2•References: 11

  • Gendering the 'responsible risk taker: Citizenship Relationships With Gender-Neutral Social Assistance Policy

    Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Citizenship Studies•2009•Cited by: 2•References: 28

    This paper explores the gendered relationships among reforms to social assistance policy, concurrent transformations in citizenship rights to benefits, and low-income parents' experiences of these changes in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. Policy discourse in all three provinces increasingly constructs mothers and fathers as 'responsible risk takers' who are entitled to income support conditional on their em…

  • The risks of being a lone mother on income support in Canada and the USA

    Open Access•Amber Gazso, Susan A Mcdaniel•ARTICLE•International Journal of…•2010•Cited by: 13•References: 48

    Purpose This paper aims to explore how neo‐liberalism shapes income support policy and lone mothers' experiences in Canada and the USA. Design/methodology/approach A critical comparative analysis is undertaken of how Canadian and US governments take up sociological concepts of risk, market citizenship, and individualization, whether explicitly or implicitly, in the design and administration of neo‐liberal income support policies directed at lone …

  • Moral Codes of Mothering and the Introduction of Welfare‐to‐Work in O ntario

    Open Access•Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue…•2012•Cited by: 6•References: 14

    In this paper, I trace how the reform of social assistance in Ontario, especially the post-1990s enforcement of lone mothers' employability via welfare-to-work programs, parallels shifts in dominant moral codes of mothering, from "mother-carer" to "mother-worker." Additionally, I use this case as an entry point to consider the implications of public and policy allegiance to these moral codes for all mothers. The central argument I make is that th…

  • Income Inequality and Health Trajectories from Mid-Life to Later Life: Are Canadian and American Differences Widening

    Susan A Mcdaniel, Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•International Journal of Canadian…•2013

    It is well known that policies and welfare regimes differentially affect the aging process, health trajectories over the life course, and indeed life expectancy. Growing income inequalities are also understood to have health and well-being implications. The focus in this paper is on the effects of growing income inequalities on the health and well-being of those in mid-life as they age in two neighbouring countries, Canada and the United States. …

  • Investigating Threat Perception Among Correctional Officers in the Canadian Provincial Correctional System

    Open Access•Rosemary Ricciardelli, Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Qualitative Sociology Review•2013•Cited by: 1•References: 6

    This paper presents findings regarding the perception and experience of threat among correctional officers in the Canadian provincial correctional system. Men employed in provincial remand centers or corrections institutions in diverse provinces across Canada, who interact daily with prisoners, voluntarily participated in detailed 60- to 180-minute in-depth interviews. Analysis of interview transcripts reveals that violence is prevalent and men e…

  • Les disparités en matière de santé au fil du vieillissement: Une comparaison du parcours de vie des premiers baby-boomers et des pré-baby-boomers au Canada

    Susan A Mcdaniel, Amber Gazso et al.•ARTICLE•Sociologie et sociétés•2013•References: 35

    Les disparités en matière de santé au fil du vieillissement : une comparaison du parcours de vie des premiers baby-boomers et des pré-baby-boomers au Canada. Un article de la revue Sociologie et sociétés (Inégalités, parcours de vie et politiques publiques) diffusée par la plateforme Érudit

  • Generationing relations in challenging times: Americans and Canadians in mid-life in the Great Recession

    Open Access•Susan A Mcdaniel, Amber Gazso et al.•ARTICLE•Current Sociology•2013•Cited by: 6•References: 18

    Generation can be seen as a crossroads where multiple socioeconomic influences intersect with individual life courses. Conceptualized as a process, performed dynamically and relationally, rather than a static category, generationing builds self-identities and concepts of how the social order is expected to work. In this article the authors ask how the multilayered processes of generationing, as experienced by those in mid-life, are affected by th…

  • Families by Choice and the Management of Low Income Through Social Supports

    Open Access•Amber Gazso, Susan A Mcdaniel•ARTICLE•Journal of Family Issues•2015•Cited by: 6•References: 36

    Processes of individualization have transformed families in late modernity. Although families may be more opportunistically created, they still face challenges of economic insecurity. In this article, we explore through in-depth qualitative interviews how families by choice manage low income through the instrumental and expressive supports that they give and receive. Two central themes organize our analysis: 'defining/doing family' and 'generatio…

  • Networks of Social Support to Manage Poverty: More Changeable than Durable

    Amber Gazso, Susan A Mcdaniel et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Poverty•2016•Cited by: 13•References: 15

    This article focuses on the durability and changeability of networks of social support to manage poverty from a life-course perspective. Drawing on interviews with members of 20 families, the authors explore networks’ origins and changes, the sources of support, and types of supports exchanged. The authors find networks to manage poverty are more likely to be in flux than durable. Intersecting transitions over life courses and shifting availabili…

  • Relative prospects of children as they age: Canadians and Americans in midlife in the great recession frame future generations

    Open Access•Susan A Mcdaniel, Amber Gazso et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Aging Studies•2016•Cited by: 3•References: 17

  • Being Homeless and Becoming Housed: The Interplay of Fateful Moments and Social Support in Neo-liberal Context

    Open Access•Jason Webb, Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Studies in Social Justice•2017•Cited by: 4•References: 27

    This paper presents a qualitative analysis of stories of adults who transitioned from being absolutely homeless to becoming housed. Participants’ stories are particularly salient for what they reveal about this transition in the midst of other challenges including substance use, criminalization, and violence, and within a neo-liberal social policy context. Through strategies of narrative analysis, two interconnected processes of becoming housed a…

  • The relationship between child maltreatment and social assistance use: A chain of adversities and transitions from a life course perspective

    Carrie Smith, Tracy A Smith-Carrier et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Public Child Welfare•2019•References: 8

    This study applies the life course perspective to one of the long-term consequences of child maltreatment: specifically, the use of social assistance. While quantitative research has demonstrated a relationship between experiencing maltreatment as a child and economic hardship in adulthood, due to the complexity of these phenomena, the nature of this relationship is not well understood. This study employs the life course perspective and qualitati…

  • Resisting the Culture of Poverty Narrative: Perspectives of Social Assistance Recipients

    Stephanie Baker Collins, Tracy A Smith-Carrier et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Poverty•2019•Cited by: 10•References: 6

    The assumption that “welfare dependency” is passed from generation to generation is persistent in public attitudes. We explore intergenerational transmission of social assistance through perceptions of those in receipt of social assistance for more than one generation through data drawn from interviews with 31 participants from Hamilton, London and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. We explore qualitatively the meanings participants assign to receipt of s…

  • Myth or Reality? Exploring Intergenerational Social Assistance Participation in Ontario, Canada

    Tracy A Smith-Carrier, Amber Gazso et al.•ARTICLE•The Journal of Sociology & Social…•2019

    Is there an intergenerational causal link in social assistance (SA) participation? There is a dearth of research addressing this question, yet the discourse of ‘welfare dependency’ is hegemonic. The limited research that does attempt to tease out a causal link in intergenerational SA participation remains equivocal. Qualitative research is largely absent in welfare scholarship; research that might provide a more nuanced understanding of the dynam…

  • The Generationing of Social Assistance Receipt and 'Welfare Dependency' in Ontario, Canada

    Open Access•Amber Gazso, Stephanie Baker Collins et al.•ARTICLE•Social Problems•2019•References: 34

    Adopting a life course perspective, we explore, qualitatively, how receipt of social assistance in Ontario is generationally experienced. Data are drawn from a study of family and generational relationships with Ontario Works (OW), which included in-depth interviews with 31 participants who also had a child or parent on social assistance; we drew from three Canadian cities: Hamilton, London, and Toronto, Ontario. Our thematic analysis reveals tha…

  • Dueling discourses, power, and the construction of the recovering addict: When social assistance confronts addiction in Toronto, Canada

    Open Access•Amber Gazso•ARTICLE•Critical Social Policy•2020•Cited by: 2•References: 24

    In this article, I undertake a critical discourse analysis of policy documents and in-depth interviews with seven caseworkers and 28 benefit recipients to explore how two discourses, ‘work first’ and ‘distance from the labour market,’ inform how persons living with addiction access and then experience social assistance in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Drawing in Foucauldian insights on power, I reveal the conceptualisation of benefit recipients’ elig…

Sociology (25 works) · Political science (18 works) · Psychology (15 works) · Social Psychology (12 works) · Social Policy and Reform Studies (11 works) · Social science (10 works) · Economics (9 works) · Gender Studies (9 works) · Criminology (7 works) · Economic growth (7 works)

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