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The Relationship Between Managerialism and Social Justice in the Development of a Community-Networking Project

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The Relationship Between Managerialism and Social Justice in the Development of a Community-Networking Project The relationship between managerialism and social justice in the development of a community-networking project Loreto Renata Bartos Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work 30 October 2009 iv i ii iii Abstract The nature of debates about managerialism and social justice tend to be adversarial. The purpose of this study is to explore the nature of the relationship between managerialism and social justice. The thesis examines the nature of this relationship in the development of a community-networking project, a pilot website for young people in a high need community. The community-networking project was established through a novel contractual arrangement between government and a local community organization. In this study social values comprise the analytical lens used to map out this relationship. Kekes’ (1993) approach to ethical pluralism is used to explore the nature of relations between ideas about managerialism and social justice in the process of implementing policy. The study is contextualized in a minor policy proposal of the former federal Liberal Coalition government and associated with a 1998-99 Budget proposal concerned with improving access to and the coordination of family-related information and services including information relating to mental health, child care, youth and aged care (see Black et al. 2002: 10). The policy initiative was established to test a range of assumptions about strong communities. There are two facets to the field study. The first facet explores the process of the implementation of the policy initiative through the different perspectives of three key informants, and the second facet explores the views of end-users of the service to determine whether or not young people were empowered, in the sense of being able to access knowledge about their own lives in terms that have meaning for them. The tone of the study is influenced by my own direct involvement as ‘an insider’. Despite the explicit intentions that were supported by research and policy, pragmatic constraints limited the extent to which community organizations were empowered to act outside the demands of government organizations and in this instance, managerialism did act against social justice. However, this did not appear to prevent the end-users of the service that was established from achieving a sense of empowerment. v In Loving Memory of My Father and For Juliana Widmer vi Acknowledgments Without the assistance of some very special people this thesis would not have been possible. I wish to acknowledge the thoughtful advice, wisdom, constant encouragement and the pointed questioning intended to enhance the academic rigour of this thesis provided by my supervisor, Professor Richard Hugman. My deepest gratitude goes to Richard. Thank you, Richard, for always being available to help maintain my momentum and focus. Also this thesis would not have been possible without the eternal patience, quirky remarks and good humour of my son, Jordan Bartos, my mother, my sisters and brothers. To all that showed an interest in my work, shared ideas, asked questions, offered assistance, I am forever grateful. vii Table of Contents Thesis/Dissertation Sheet i Originality Statement ii Copyright and Authenticity Statement iii Title page iv Abstract v Dedication vi Acknowledgments vii Table of Contents viii List of Figures ix Abbreviations x Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Social values: managerialism, social justice and value pluralism 5 Chapter 2: Social policy and social values 43 Chapter 3: Community and social capital 65 Chapter 4: Online communities and the digital divide 99 Chapter 5: Young people, social networks and social capital 123 Chapter 6: Research methodology 143 Chapter 7: The semi-structured interviews 185 Chapter 8: Survey results and analysis 237 Chapter 9: Conclusion 269 Appendix A FaCS Consent Form 303 Appendix B FaCS Semi-structured interview schedule 304 Appendix C PCF Consent Form 308 Appendix D PCF Semi-structured interview schedule 309 Appendix E PCS Consent Form 312 Appendix F PCS Semi-structured interview schedule 313 Appendix G Student Information Sheet for Penville Survey 317 Appendix H Student Consent Form 319 Appendix I Penville Survey 320 Bibliography 326 viii List of Figures Figure 1: Managerialism (ten core elements) 23 Figure 2: Definitions of social capital 82 Figure 3: Contractual arrangement 153 Figure 4: Penville Survey data 240 Figure 5: Participants’ reported access to the Internet 247 ix Abbreviations ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics DBCDE Commonwealth Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy DCITA Commonwealth Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts FaCS Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services FaHCSIA Commonwealth Department of Family, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs FCNI Family and Community Networks Initiative GDP Gross Domestic Product ICT Information and Communication Technology IP Intellectual Property ISP Internet Service Provider IT Information Technology KHL Kids Help Line MOU Memorandum Of Understanding NGO Non-Government Organisation NOIE National Office for the Information Economy NSW New South Wales OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development PCF Penville Community Forum PCS Penville Community Services VIC Victoria x Introduction This thesis examines the nature of the relationship between managerialism and social justice in the development of a community-networking project, a pilot website for young people in a high need geographic community. The community-networking project was established through a novel contractual arrangement between government and a local community organisation. However, this arrangement raised questions about the pursuit of social justice as an objective and the managerialist intent of government to ‘efficiently and effectively’ control the use of funds. The central research question is concerned with the nature of the relations between managerialism and social justice in the policy process and the effects of this relationship on an actual project: the provision of a pilot website. The research question also comprises a series of sub-questions aimed at determining whether or not young people, the end-users of the pilot website, are empowered through access to information published on the pilot website and the opportunity to develop social connections. The information published on the pilot website is intended to help young people address a range of social issues and gain knowledge about their own lives in terms that have meaning to them as they transition into adulthood. These sub-questions are informed by a view that the objectives of empowerment should contribute to social justice (Rees 1991). In this study, social values comprise the analytical lens used to map out the relationship between ideas about managerialism and social justice in implementing policy. Kekes’ (1993) approach to ethical pluralism is used to explore the nature of the relations between managerialism and social justice. The nature of the relationship is contextualized in a minor policy initiative of the former federal liberal coalition government and associated with a 1998-99 Budget Initiative concerned with improving “access to, and coordination of, family-related information and services, including information and services relating to mental health, child care, youth and aged care” (Black et al. 2002: 10). 1 The policy initiative, known as the Family and Community Networks Initiative (FCNI) was established to test a range of propositions about strong communities with a particular focus upon building community capacity through the development of leadership and the creation of social capital using Information Technology (IT). The tone of the analysis is influenced by my own direct involvement, as an insider - a Centrelink employee - in the development of the community-networking project in a high need geographic community which is referred to throughout the thesis by the pseudonym of Penville. The field study explores a pilot project in which the competing tendencies of managerialism and social justice were observed and questions were raised about how they may coexist. This study focuses upon whether or not good community development practices were able to coexist and offset managerialist tendencies. The field study examines the process of selecting a community-networking project proposal and then considers the data collected from the end-users of the service to determine whether young people can achieve a sense of empowerment in the sense of being able to access knowledge about their own lives in terms that have meaning to them. Overview Chapter One, Social values: managerialism, social justice and value pluralism, is concerned with defining the analytical approach and laying the conceptual foundations that comprise the intellectual scaffolding used in the thesis to explore the relations between managerialism and social justice. Chapter One states the central research question and set of sub questions that direct the structure of the thesis. Chapter One explores social values and establishes the core elements that comprise the working definitions of managerialism (Hood 1991; Pollitt 1995; Considine 1997) and social justice (Rawls 1971; Ife 1995; Rees 1991). The investigation of these concepts is confined to establishing clear working definitions for the purpose of the empirical investigation. The notion of value pluralism (Kekes 1993) is introduced. Chapter Two, Social policy and social values, examines
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