Paradoxes in Paradise: Neoliberalism in Alberta's Developmental Disability Field
Abstract
This research examines the manifestation of neoliberal reforms and their institutionalising processes and effects in the field of services for adults with developmental disabilities in Alberta. The goal is to contribute to emerging understandings of how neoliberalism shapes the environmental context and characteristics of nonprofit human service organizations. A longitudinal embedded single-case study design and historical research approach are used. The study is grounded in a social constructivist perspective, guided by a theoretical framework integrating organizational and historical institutionalism with resource dependence theory.
To understand the origins of the institutional arrangements existing at the start of the reforms, the evolution of the field is traced from 1905 to the 1990s. Four critical junctures are identified during this period, associated with: the eugenics movement; the deinstitutionalization and normalization movements; the social model of disability; and the onset of neoliberalism. The thesis identifies the broader socio-cultural, economic and political contexts in which the developments occurred.
Neoliberal reforms, which intensified when the Klein government came into power in 1992, manifested in Alberta’s developmental disability field in four main ways: program cutbacks and limitations; a new structure for program delivery; increased family and individual responsibility; and managerial techniques for scrutiny and accountability. The thesis reveals poignant differences in the unfolding of the reforms, the identity and role of central actors, the levels and forms of acceptance, resistance, and entrepreneurship exhibited by various actors to shape institutional changes, and the nature and extent of change achieved. Organizations demonstrated isomorphic properties and tendencies expected in a highly institutionalised context, but their responses were diverse, structured by their histories, cultures and sense of self-identity, professional biases, and perceptions of dependencies. Even in a province much touted for neoliberalism, the reforms did not roll out coherently, and only partially achieved the benchmark principles of neoliberal government. Neoliberalism’s inherent paradoxes, a multiplex institutional context, and the creative agencies of strategic actors are implicated in the contradictory and experimental nature of the outcomes.
Description
Keywords
Sociology, Sociology--Organizational, Public and Social Welfare
Citation
Sonpal-Valias, N. (2016). Paradoxes in Paradise: Neoliberalism in Alberta's Developmental Disability Field (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/27252