AN ANALYSIS OF CANADIAN SOCIAL-WELFARE HISTORICAL WRITING

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