Academic literature on the topic 'Fields of Research – 370000 Studies in Human Society – 370100 Sociology'

In this dissertation it is argued that humans constitute themselves as subjects in a complex of interrelationships between body, self, and society, The effects of these interrelationships are examined through the ways in which traumatic paraplegics constitute themselves as subjects following their accidents. Subsequent to paralysis there is a radical break in how paraplegics experience their bodies, in what they are physically able to do, and in the ways in which their bodies are interpreted socially, assigned meanings, and allocated space in which to do and be. Experiential accounts of paraplegia are presented as a means to exploring the implications of these changes in the ways paraplegics constitute themselves as subjects.

Organisations operate in an environment buffeted by social change. Child sexual abuse became publicly recognised as a social problem from 1986. The first part of this thesis examines public awareness of, and interest in child sexual abuse, how child sexual abuse arose in New Zealand, the influence of international "moral entrepreneurs" in shaping this recognition and the activities of local "moral entrepreneurs"' including some police officers, in assisting the move of child sexual abuse from the private to the public arena. The second part of this thesis examines organisational change and whether the causes for organisational change are environmentally or managerially driven. Or is it, as this thesis suggests a combination of both. This thesis takes these theoretical arguments and applies them to the process of organisational change that occurred in the New Zealand Police Department, from the development and implementation of the National Abuse Policy for the investigation of child sexual abuse and serious physical abuse. The third part of this thesis examines the interlinking between the main theoretical foci, organisational change and the construction of a social problem. The results of an investigation from key staff, Police and other agency personnel, from seven New Zealand Police Department Districts, interviewed in three waves over a two and a half year period, are reported. The total number of key staff from each wave was 93, 80 and 68. The results of the first part of the thesis is that through effective lobbying by the women's movement and child protection groups child sexual abuse has become a recognised social problem. In the second part of the thesis the following were found to be crucial factors in the shaping of organisational responses to child sexual abuse: The role of middle managers in the implementation of organisational change policies in assigning or not assigning appropriate resources. The role of the top management in the ownership of organisational change policies the procedures. Continual staff turnover and the policy of staff rotation limited the successful implementation and continued support for the National Abuse Policy. This factor, staff turn over and/or rotation, will impact on the success of any organisational change policy. The extent of the training provisions for police officers at all levels within the organisation and the maintenance of that training at a national and district level. Acceptance of the multidisciplinary investigative approach which differed from more traditional policing approaches. The internal and external pressure on the Police to implement and maintain a high profile response in the child sexual abuse field. The results of the third part of the thesis is that the Police Department played a role in the public recognition of child sexual abuse as a social problem and as a result had to implement an operational response through the development of a National Abuse Policy.

This thesis describes the process of concentration and centralisation of the top New Zealand corporate class fraction at three levels - the corporate agent, the corporate agency and the corporate structure. These three different perspectives are seen, first, at the level of the empirical evidence of concentration and centralisation over time, and second, at the level of theoretical explanation and lastly, at the level of the sociology of knowledge, that is, how the theories themselves locate within economic cycles. The two empirical bases of this study are the survey of the top thirty companies directors and the top thirty companies networks of.1966, 1976 and 1986. A centrality analysis used on the latter three data sources, found that at the peak of the longwave (1966) when accumulation was high within the protected New Zealand economy, there were few corporate interlocks, suggesting that centralisation (the destruction of already formed capitals) was not a problem. But by the economic downturn (1986) corporate interlocks had proliferated reflecting the insecure nature of the corporate economy in crisis. The main conclusions drawn from the survey and the centralisation data sources positively corroborate the Marxist thesis that the corporate class fraction (as agents of capitalism) are in a free market economy as much directive as reactive to the state, that banks operate at direct and indirect levels of intervention on this class fraction and that there is some evidence of corporate class cohesion.

Class mobility in farming works both ways, some farmer's children are unable to afford a farm, while others from non-farm families do succeed in farm ownership. The literature reviewed in this thesis suggests this situation is related to New Zealand's economic history. In the past small family farms have benefited from both secure markets and governments whose interests have been closely bound up with high productivity. This has led the state to offer cheap credit to prospective farmers with little cap1al of their own. Upward mobility has been possible, but at the same time state support has enabled relatively small farms to remain viable, and many of these are unable to secure farm ownership for all family members. In this thesis I explore class mobility and career patterns among farm employees and consider their wider implications. There are many ambiguities in farm employment in New Zealand which stem from the predominance of petty bourgeois farm owners. Such farmers must deal with the capitalist markets of other sectors when they purchase inputs or sell their product but family workers may act as a bulwark against commercial pressures by accepting lower incomes. Similar conditions may be forced on working class farm employees with no chance of ownership. The high number of people leaving farm employment offers indirect confirmation of such problems and this thesis investigates the context in which departures occurred. Farm employees consist of three groups, those without interest in farm ownership, those with an interest and little chance of success, and those whose family background ensures farm ownership. Many farms only have one employee and take on non-family labour for short periods when the family labour which would otherwise do the task is unavailable. Some of the people they employ are offspring of neighbouring farm owners. This variation in class interests has exacerbated the disinclination of farm employees to lake collective action in the face of poor wages and conditions. By tracing a sample of farm employees through the electoral rolls over a period of ten years, I have been able to contact three groups of farm employees: those who have left for non-farm work in the intervening period; those who have been farm workers for at least ten years; and those who have since become farm owners. This has given me an insight into the proportion of farm employees who take up farming hoping to own their own farm, and the problems involved in succeeding. People who have left farming also provide an important perspective on farm employment. I have correlated outcome of career by various background factors, principally father's occupation, aspiration, and education. Job history is also important to my analysis. All these factors influence class mobility, and may either increase or mask the action of each other in different circumstances. By looking at mobility I will demonstrate the way class relationships impinge on individual lives.

The purpose of the current study is to investigate New Zealanders’ social attitudes towards the economic support for the aged provided by the New Zealand Superannuation Scheme. The structure and nature of those social attitudes is revealed. The study examines social attitude responses to determine if intergenerational justice plays any role in the nature of support for the aged. One thousand and eighty-three participants were selected from the electoral roll and all were sent a survey pack followed by two subsequent reminders. Five hundred and nineteen people agreed to participate. The hypothesis is that New Zealanders agree that economic support for the aged should be provided through the Superannuation Scheme, but that the nature of this support varies according to demographic characteristics and individual perceptions of intergenerational justice. The survey results found that respondents support the economic provision for the aged in the current Superannuation Scheme. However, they are less prepared to support those mechanisms that maintain the Superannuation Scheme and they consider intergenerational transferability of the Superannuation Scheme as important. A generational difference was found in the survey among younger respondents, those forty-one and below, with regard to need taking precedence for supporting the aged, concerning ideas about assessing the economic circumstances of the aged and ideas about the balance of ‘advantages and disadvantages’ distributed to different generations. Older generations, those respondents aged forty-two and above, supported the social democratic form of the Superannuation Scheme. They believed that entitlement to returns was more important than need and they opposed economic assessments for the receipt of the Superannuation Benefit. However, older generations did not believe that differences in the balance of ‘advantages and disadvantages’ between generations have occurred in New Zealand. The survey results indicate that New Zealand is unique compared with other developed countries in that there is little predictor value or correlation value for most of the demographic characteristics pertaining to welfare attitudes towards the economic support of the aged. Meanwhile, generation and household income have some predictor and correlation value in relation to welfare attitudes towards the New Zealand Superannuation Scheme. Finally, the Superannuation Scheme exists in a momentary formal state. It may be the non-transferability of this Scheme between generations that poses a threat to the economic support of the aged, given that the number of people in New Zealand reaching sixty-five is set to increase dramatically.

This thesis explores parliamentarians’ emotional labour in their workplace, and argues the enactment of passionate rationality is crucial to how parliamentarians accomplish vocational authenticity. The New Zealand parliamentary workplace is characterised by an elaborate set of feeling rules and a complex emotional culture. On entry to parliament, parliamentarians go through a period of identity transformation akin to a moral career. Parliamentarians must manage emotion to achieve their occupational identities according to local feeling rules. Based on analysis of in-depth group and individual interviews with parliamentarians, and focusing on the passage of the Civil Union Bill as an exemplar of parliamentarians’ emotion work, three interpretative repertoires were identified in their accounts of emotion in the workplace. These repertoires, The Game, The Performance and The Crusade are work-place specific meaning-making resources whose flexible deployment enabled parliamentarians to assert claims of occupational identity and vocational authenticity. These repertoires show the emotional labour involved in parliamentarians’ negotiation of shared meanings around ‘entering’ the occupational role and asserting the authenticity of their new identities. In particular, The Crusade repertoire makes available the subject position of the Knight, the subject position important for accomplishment of being a passionately rational worker. In this thesis, I introduce two new concepts for emotional labour in complex workplaces where that labour has both exchange and use value; emotional convocation and personified emotion. Together these concepts allow for a more thorough theorisation of emotion work than do existing concepts of emotional labour. Although developed in relation to the work of parliamentarians, personified emotion and emotional convocation have utility for understanding other contemporary experiences of work where emotion management within a complex emotional culture is fundamental to both occupational identity and the accomplishment of vocational authenticity.

The Youth Development Strategy Aotearoa has been seen as an innovative approach to youth development. The E tipu e rea – Rangatahi Development Package was particularly useful for organisations implementing the strategy with Maori youth. There have been successful Maori youth development initiatives, though these have been ad hoc. Nonetheless, the realities and experiences of Maori youth are still not being fully addressed in national policy. This has implications for the support and resourcing of Maori youth development initiatives. Maori youth are members of a range of groups including whanau, hapu, iwi and Maori communities in te ao Maori as well as the wider youth population and New Zealand society. The histories, experiences and viewpoints of each distinct group contribute to diversity in the Maori youth population which presents challenges for Maori youth development. Maori development goals do not adequately focus on Maori youth and youth development theory does not fully consider culture. The challenge is to successfully integrate Maori culture and youth culture in a relevant and meaningful manner so that Maori youth can positively contribute to Maori development and wider New Zealand society. This study examines purakau (narratives) about Maui (Polynesian ancestor) as a template for the analysis of Maori youth development. Interviews were undertaken with a group of Maori youth from the Manawatu region. The research showed tikanga and ahuatanga were relevant to the contemporary daily lives of the participants. The study found that positive development and the realisation of potential for Maori youth was affected by individual and environmental influences. This thesis concludes by making recommendations for policy, practice and further research. Finally, it offers a culturally appropriate theoretical approach for positive Maori youth development.

Fair trade is an alternative approach to international trade. It is both a social movement and an economic approach that aims to make trade fair for the many small scale producers disadvantaged in international trade. This thesis explores the discursive devices used by fair trade organisations to promote fair trade. These devices have two roles: to promote an ethical connection from consumer to producer and to involve the consumer in the work of fair trade through purchasing behaviour and political action. This second role refers to the politicisation of consumption whereby shopping becomes an act of political solidarity with disadvantaged producers. I explore these devices through narrative analysis, focusing on a thematic analysis of Trade Aid’s publication, Vital. My research is framed by Michael Goodman’s (2004) work on the semiotic production of fair trade. The concept of a reflexive consumer is explored. This is the idea that consumer awareness of the conditions surrounding production can lead to purchasing decisions that reflect care for the distant producer. This opening up of the concept of consumption involves an active and engaged consumer who chooses to purchase fair trade because they feel a connection to the work of these organisations. I am interested in the particular form this information takes in Vital. I apply narrative research methods to explore the meta-narrative of fair trade promoted in Vital that tells the reader about the work of fair trade organisations, the impact this has on the lives of producer and how they can be involved in the story as a consumer and as a global citizen.

When the New Zealand Government restructured the system of the public funding of research (1990-1992) it created Crown Research Institutes (CRIs) as companies operating in a global, market-led economy. One CRI, AgResearch, responded to this environment by corporatisation and instituted a normative system of control of workers which, through strategic plans, vision and mission statements, and performance appraisal processes, encouraged workers to adhere to company goals. This thesis, reporting on an ethnographic study of this CRI, shows how most scientific workers (technical workers and scientists alike) experienced insecurity through estrangement because the contributions they wished to make were less valued both in society and in their work organisation. They were excluded from participation in both organisational and Government policy-making, and felt they did not ‘belong’ anymore. Scientists in particular were also experiencing alienation (in the Marxist sense), as they were losing autonomy over the production of their work and its end use. Scientific workers developed tactics of compliance in order to resist these experiences and ostensibly comply with organisational goals while maintaining and protecting their self-identities, and making their work meaningful. Meanwhile, to outward appearances, the work of the CRI continued. This thesis adds to the sociology of work literature by extending the understanding of the concepts of compliance and resistance in white-collar work, particularly under normative control, by developing two models of resistance. It adds to the stories of the impact on public sector workers of the restructuring of this sector in New Zealand’s recent history, and develops implications for science policy and practice.

Since 1984, public service occupations in New Zealand have been subordinated to the over-determined bureaucratic structures of contemporary managerialism. The reactions of front-line public servants to New Management’s unfamiliar ‘market-place’ imperatives and the concomitant loss of occupational autonomy have received very little rigorous qualitative analysis. This study addresses that shortfall, taking as its cue a key question in the sociology of ‘profession’—what arouses or subdues the inclination of bureaucratised occupations to professionalise as a means of reclaiming autonomy? It explains the nature and meaning of strategies adopted by front-line practitioners in New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DOC) to defend their marginalised work conventions and collegial culture. Symbolic interactionist analysis shows that profoundly personal values and beliefs connect vocationally motivated practitioners with their ‘mission’ (to conserve natural and cultural heritage). These powerful intuitive connections play a crucial role in subduing interest in resistance and organised strategic action, principally by converting conservation labour into the pursuit of personal fulfilment. Practitioners respond to managerial intrusions on their core work (the source of their fulfilment) by defending these personal connections rather than group interests. As a result of this introversion, perceptions of ‘community’ and occupational identity are disorganised and become a further reason for inaction. Practitioners resolve the conflict between self-interested pursuit of fulfilment and the altruistic goals of conservation by negotiating an unspoken bargain with DOC’s authority structures. The ‘pay-offs’ for deferral to managerial authority win the space to pursue fulfilment through immersion and conspicuous achievement in work, obviating the need for more concerted defensive action. Accordingly, managerialism has not acted as a professionalising catalyst for this group. NB: The abstract has been revised by the author in the electronic version of this thesis, since the print edition was published.