SELECTED THESES ON THE CIRCUMPOLAR ARCTIC

This work investigates the effects of wage employment on Inuit from two Eastern Arctic communities. In particular, the study focuses on two related but distinct questions. First, how are Inuit workers reacting to the on-the-job demands of their oil exploration wage employment? Second, what effect is this massive influx of wage employment having on the home communities of native workers? Both of these issues are particularly relevant given the present and growing interest in northern development.
This study marshaled a variety of direct and indirect measures in an attempt to answer both of the central questions posed by this investigation. In addition to providing descriptive answers to these questions, the work placed each issue within a theoretical frame of reference. Concerning on-the-job performance, competing theories about the importance of various background characteristics, including education, for native integration into an industrial labour force are presented. The issue concerning the community effects of wage employment is placed within two competing traditions about the necessity of community disorganisation resulting from intensive, short-term introduction of change.
In general, the findings of this study suggest that Inuit workers are performing well in their new wage employment positions, and that the native communities are also adapting to the recent availability of wage employment opportunities. Correlates of these successful individual and community responses to wage employment are enumerated and policy suggestions are discussed.