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The Impact of the Asbestos Industry on Families in Brazil
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- Author / Creator
- Sentes, Kyla Elizabeth
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This work seeks to expand understandings regarding the impact of occupational illnesses and injuries on development. It identifies a marked lack of attention to the safety of workplaces in international policy, which belies the importance of occupational health concerns in creating sustainable and effective development policies. Using a materialist epidemiological framework of analysis, I argue that traditional development paradigms have failed to take into account the importance of quality of employment when determining policies for and in the Global South. The case study of the asbestos industry in Brazil is provided to illustrate the physiological, political, and socioeconomic effects that occupational illnesses may have in society. By examining how family members are affected by their interactions with the Brazilian asbestos industry in those three areas, I identify a far-reaching and under-examined burden created by the presence of unsafe workplaces. I conclude that development policies that ignore occupational health concerns ultimately serve to perpetuate structured social and economic inequalities and contribute to ongoing poverty in the Global South. Significant theoretical and practical re-orientations by both policy-makers and researchers are needed if meaningful improvements in development policy are to occur that take into account the importance of workplace quality.
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- Subjects / Keywords
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- Graduation date
- Spring 2010
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Doctor of Philosophy
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- License
- This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.