About Our Beginnings
The Centre for Studies on Poverty and Social Citizenship (CSPSC) was founded at Carleton University in 1974, originally established under the name the Centre for Social Welfare Studies.
Founded by Carleton School of Social Work faculty members Brian Segal, Len Rutman and Jim Albert, many of the Centre’s first projects focused on social policy issues, and social work theory and history.
One of the Centre’s earliest studies focused on the role of the Bachelor of Social Work in social work education, which led to creating a BSW program at Carleton.
Another project, run by Len Rutman, comprised of a systemic review and inventory of Canadian program evaluations. This study led to the publication of a book on social program evaluation, the first on the subject in Canada.
In the early 1990s, with leadership from School of Social Work faculty Allan Moscovitch, the Centre obtained several successive grants for the publication of the Canadian Review of Social Policy (CRSP). The CRSP was later transferred back to Carleton before eventually being housed at York University.
Some of the Centre’s early titles include:
The beginnings of Canadian Government housing policy, 1918-1924
Problems of measurement in criminal justice
The welfare state in Canada: a selected bibliography, 1840 to 1978
The power politics of motherhood
Social work and behaviourism : some philosophical and political problems
Early Centre contributors include:
Allan Moscovitich
Alma Estable
Andrew Jones
Ann Purves
Arthur Stinson
Gary Miller
Helen Levine
Joe Hudson
Joseph Wholey
Peter Findlay
Roland Lecomte
Rona Shaffron
Samual James Albert
Therese Jennissen
Thomas Cook
