Worklessness and Social Pathologies in Aboriginal Communities

Abstract

This article describes a model of relationships between worklessness and entrenched patterns of harmful behavior. Most observers agree that worklessness is a cause of social pathologies, and that worklessness is an effect of near-global and broad local causes. Pathological behavior, once entrenched and passed from generation to generation, may become the culture of reproduction. For decades, aboriginal people in Canada, the United States, and Greenland have been attacking the causes and consequences of social pathologies all along the chain of cause and effect, from near-global causes to spiritual and psychological suffering. A development initiative aimed at any link in the chain can consume a large part of the resources that a community might have available for development, so it is important for local planners and decision-makers to know exactly how social pathologies arose in their community — so development resources can be most effectively applied. The model is tested with a case study of Churchill,...