The Everyday Conduct of Precarious Lives at the Height of Penal Welfare

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Everyday Conduct of Precarious Lives at the Height of Penal Welfare Copyright is owned by the Author of the thesis. Permission is given for a copy to be downloaded by an individual for the purpose of research and private study only. The thesis may not be reproduced elsewhere without the permission of the Author. The everyday conduct of precarious lives at the height of penal welfare A thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Master of Science in Psychology (Endorsement in Health Psychology) at Massey University, Albany New Zealand Ellen Michie 2020 ii Abstract Today, poverty is a pervasive social concern in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The concept of the precariat as an emerging social class is useful when engaging with the human costs and insecurities that accompany poverty and deprivation. The precariat is characterised by employment, income, housing, food, and other such insecurities. It encompasses many people who are rotating in and out of paid employment and welfare support. The purpose of this study was to investigate the everyday lives of two precariat households. Using materials from the Auckland City Mission’s Family 100 Research Project, two case studies were comprised of repeat semi-structured interviews and participatory mapping activities that documented their experiences. These cases focused on the accounts of one participant from each household concerning insecurities relating to housing, health, finances, food, employment, and service engagements. The first focused on Solomon’s household. Solomon migrated to New Zealand from Samoa and lives in South Auckland with his wife and eight children. This case explores how Solomon’s migrant household navigates the precariat, including experiences of (un)employment, interactions with services, and times of respite and leisure. The second case focused on Trinity, who is of Cook Island descent and a single precariat mother of six children. This case has a particular focus on issues of (in)justice. Looking across both cases we can see how participants faced constant worry and stress, demonstrated considerable personal agency in response, and employed creative strategies in order to navigate their precarious lifeworlds. Key findings from this research relate to the chaotic and complex nature of everyday precarity and the lack of respect and dignity experienced by these households when interacting with service providers. These findings have implications for how precarity is understood in New Zealand and offers insights that support the need for the development of a more humane approach to our systems and services that respond to the needs of the growing precariat in Aotearoa. iii Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge that without access to the Family 100 Research Project materials which formed my case studies, this thesis would not be possible. Thank you to Professor Darrin Hodgetts, Professor Kerry Chamberlain, Dr Shiloh Groot, and Dame Diane Robertson who designed and conducted The Family 100 Research Project. Thank you to the participants who contributed their time and experiences. I wish to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my supervisors, Professor Darrin Hodgetts and Dr Pita King. You have been invaluable sources of wisdom, reassurance, and guidance throughout this process. Thank you for sharing your unique perspectives. Thank you for pushing me to think more critically about justice and everyday life. Thank you to my parents, Eric and Tina; my sister, Annalise; and my nana, Beryl. Thank you for your continual encouragement and support throughout life. Ashley-Ruth, I could not express enough gratitude for the time you spent proofreading my work and the input you have offered me during this process. Finally, Tofiq, thank you for everything you have done for me throughout this journey. Thank you for being there. iv Table of Contents Abstract....................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ..................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ......................................................................................... v List of Figures ............................................................................................ vii Chapter One: Introduction ............................................................................ 1 Conceptualising poverty ........................................................................... 3 The emerging precariat class .................................................................... 9 New Zealand’s mixed public and private societal response to poverty .... 13 Experiences of penal welfare .................................................................. 23 A focus on the everyday conduct of precarious lives ............................... 26 Chapter Two: Method ................................................................................ 31 Research setting and the Family 100 Research Project ............................ 31 Ethical considerations ......................................................................... 34 A scholar activist partnership with a community organisation ............. 35 Case-based research ............................................................................... 36 The two cases focused on in this thesis ................................................... 39 Participant interactions during the Family 100 Research Project ............. 41 Semi-structured interviews ................................................................. 41 Participatory mapping......................................................................... 44 Analysis process ..................................................................................... 46 Chapter Three: Solomon and his Household ............................................... 49 Managing money .................................................................................... 50 Navigating the service landscape ............................................................ 56 Everyday (un)employment ..................................................................... 61 Home and health .................................................................................... 66 Social connection and space as leisure .................................................... 72 Chapter discussion.................................................................................. 75 Chapter Four: Trinity and her Household ................................................... 77 The welfare office .................................................................................. 78 Finding employment............................................................................... 83 Money matters........................................................................................ 87 Food distribution .................................................................................... 91 Housing and safety ................................................................................. 99 v Chapter discussion ................................................................................ 102 Chapter Five: Discussion .......................................................................... 105 The service landscape creates a time squeeze ........................................ 107 Addressing inadequate incomes within the precariat ............................. 110 Working towards a more empathetic understanding of poverty ............. 115 Concluding statement ........................................................................... 118 References ................................................................................................ 121 Appendix A .............................................................................................. 154 Appendix B .............................................................................................. 156 Appendix C .............................................................................................. 157 vi List of Figures Figure 1. An example of Solomon’s service map ........................................ 45 Figure 2. Solomon’s finance map ............................................................... 51 Figure 3. Solomon’s debt map .................................................................... 54 Figure 4. Solomon’s service map ................................................................ 57 Figure 5. Solomon’s employment map ....................................................... 65 Figure 6. Solomon’s health map ................................................................. 70 Figure 7. Trinity’s employment map .......................................................... 84 Figure 8. Trinity’s finance map .................................................................. 88 Figure 9. Trinity’s food map ...................................................................... 93 vii Chapter One: Introduction More than 225 trillion dollars of wealth exists in the world. However, the distribution of these monetary resources is vastly uneven (Oxfam, 2017). The wealthiest one percent of individuals own more than half of this wealth, while in contrast, the poorest 50% own less than 0.25% of wealth in the world (Hodgetts & Stolte, 2017). Correspondingly, poverty officially affects more than 700 million people worldwide (United Nations Development Programme & Oxford Poverty and Human Development, 2019). In recent decades, the reduction of extreme poverty, when individuals
Recommended publications
  • The Role of Financial Deregulation in the Geographical Restructuring Of
    I 1¡ . t r'1,1 GLOBAL FINA¡ICEILOCAL CRISIS Tm Ror,n or Fnv.l¡tcrAL Dnnpcu¡,.tuoN IN rm GnocRApErcAL RnsrnucruRrNc or Ausrn¡,r.lx F¡,nn,mrc AI\D F,mu cnpurr: Tm c¿.sn or Ke¡vclRoo Isr,,lxo by Neil Argent BA Hons The University of Adelaide A Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Adelaide June 1997 tt TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Title Page I Table of Contents ü List of Tables vi List ofFigures vll Abstract )o Deolaration )(lr Aoknowledgements )qu CIIAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION I l.l Introduction I 1.2 Research Aims and Objectives and Author's Motives J 1.3 Thesis Outline 6 1.4 Conclusion I PART ONE CHAPTER TWO: GLOBALISATION, REGI]LATION AND TTIE RI,RAL: TOWARDS A TIIEORETICAL A}IALYSIS OF CONTEMPORARY RI.'RAL AI.ID AGRICI ]LTTJRAL CITANGE 9 2.1 Introduction 9 2.2 Scalng Change: The Rural in the Global and the Global in the Rural? l0 2.3 Rural and Agrarian Restruoturing: Evohing Scales and Dimensions of Change t4 2.3.1 Introduction t4 2.3.2Peasant, Proletariat and the Fin de Siécle: l9th and 20th Century Perqpectives l5 2.3.3 Structure and Contingency, Stability and Crisis: Regulationist Approaches to Agrarian Change 26 2.3.4 T\e Political Eoonomy of Farm Credit 38 2.3.5T\e Man on the Land and the Invisible Farmer: psmini politioal st Critiques of the Eoonomy of Agrioultrue 42 2.3.6T\e Cubist State: Towards a Non-Esse,lrtialist Account ofthe Capitalist State 45 2.4 Conclusion 49 CHAPTER THREE: THE AGRICTJLTIJRE.FINA}ICE RELATION: A REALIST APPROACH 52 3.1 Introduction 52 3.2 Critical Realism: A Philosophical and Theoretical Exploration 52 3.2.1To Be Is Not To Be Perceived: A Realist Philosophy for the Social Soiences 52 3.2.2T\e Critical Realist Mode of Conceptualisation 62 3.
    [Show full text]
  • Research Commons at The
    http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/ Research Commons at the University of Waikato Copyright Statement: The digital copy of this thesis is protected by the Copyright Act 1994 (New Zealand). The thesis may be consulted by you, provided you comply with the provisions of the Act and the following conditions of use: Any use you make of these documents or images must be for research or private study purposes only, and you may not make them available to any other person. Authors control the copyright of their thesis. You will recognise the author’s right to be identified as the author of the thesis, and due acknowledgement will be made to the author where appropriate. You will obtain the author’s permission before publishing any material from the thesis. Insecure Here, Precarious There? Workfare-style Welfare Provision in the Age of Precarious Employment in Aotearoa New Zealand A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Sciences in Social Policy in the Division of Arts, Law, Psychology and Social Sciences at The University of Waikato by Dayna Erin East 2020 Abstract Aotearoa New Zealand’s adoption of workfare, beginning in the late 1980s, was designed to reduce welfare dependency and reinforce employment as the pathway to greater wellbeing. Concurrent with these policy developments in welfare provision were changes in the labour market, which led to an increase in employment arrangements that can be considered precarious. Feminist literature highlights that women are more negatively impacted by these kinds of changes to the welfare system and the labour market.
    [Show full text]
  • Revue Interventions Économiques, 62
    Revue Interventions économiques Papers in Political Economy 62 | 2019 Le bien-être : discours politique et politiques publiques dans le monde anglophone Wellbeing: Political Discourse and Policy in the Anglosphere Louise Dalingwater, Iside Costantini et Nathalie Champroux (dir.) Édition électronique URL : http://journals.openedition.org/interventionseconomiques/6225 DOI : 10.4000/interventionseconomiques.6225 ISBN : 1710-7377 ISSN : 1710-7377 Éditeur Association d’Économie Politique Référence électronique Louise Dalingwater, Iside Costantini et Nathalie Champroux (dir.), Revue Interventions économiques, 62 | 2019, « Le bien-être : discours politique et politiques publiques dans le monde anglophone » [En ligne], mis en ligne le 28 juin 2019, consulté le 21 août 2019. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/ interventionseconomiques/6225 ; DOI:10.4000/interventionseconomiques.6225 Ce document a été généré automatiquement le 21 août 2019. Les contenus de la revue Interventions économiques sont mis à disposition selon les termes de la Licence Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. 1 SOMMAIRE Wellbeing: Political Discourse and Policy in the Anglosphere. Introduction Louise Dalingwater, Iside Costantini et Nathalie Champroux Linking Health and Wellbeing in Public Discourse and Policy: The Case of the UK Louise Dalingwater Wellbeing through Legislation and Litigation: the Australian Example Le bien-être à travers la législation et les litiges : l'exemple australien Bronwen Claire Ewens Politique du logement et bien-être en Angleterre
    [Show full text]
  • New Zealand Wars
    NEW ZEALAND between the WARS NZBTW_TXT_FINAL.indd 1 15/06/17 3:12 PM NEW ZEALAND between the WARS EDITED BY RACHAEL BELL NZBTW_TXT_FINAL.indd 2 15/06/17 3:12 PM NEW ZEALAND between the WARS EDITED BY RACHAEL BELL NZBTW_TXT_FINAL.indd 3 15/06/17 3:12 PM First published in 2017 by Massey University Press Private Bag 102904, North Shore Mail Centre Auckland 0745, New Zealand www.masseypress.ac.nz Text copyright © individual contributors, 2017 Images copyright © as credited, 2017 Design by Kate Barraclough Cover images: Alexander Turnbull Library: 1/1-015781-F (fridge advertisement), 1/4-101871-G (art deco house), WA-32803-F (Mohaka Viaduct), MNZ-2461-1/4-F (school milk), 1/4-049203-G (Michael Joseph Savage), 1/2-044670-F (Penrose relief camp), PACOLL-0001-2-1-008 (Mangatoi Station), 1/2-045468-G (Girl Guide and scout rally), 1/4- 016931-G (Duke and Duchess of York visiting St Paul’s Cathedral); West Coast New Zealand History/Friends of the Hill Society (Depression-era soup kitchen); and author’s collection. The moral right of the authors has been asserted All rights reserved. Except as provided by the Copyright Act 1994, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner(s) and the publisher. A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of New Zealand Printed and bound in China by Everbest Ltd ISBN: 978-0-9941363-6-7 The publisher gratefully acknowledges the support of the W.
    [Show full text]
  • Symposium on Retirement Income Policy
    Symposium on Retirement Income Policy Looking back and looking forward Wednesday, 16 April 2008 TASK FORCES IN THE 1990s AND THE POLITICAL ACCORD Task Force on Private Provision for Retirement Politics, not economics or demographics, was the key driver of the retirement policy debate of the nineties. The appointment of the Task Force on Private Provision for Retirement on 10 October 1991 by Prime Minister Jim Bolger was, for me, the first step on a fascinating journey of research, education, consultation and consensus which extended through the decade. During the 1990s New Zealand re-constructed and developed its simple two part system for providing income in retirement based on public provision of a basic pension (New Zealand Superannuation) and voluntary private savings. Retirement savings were tax-neutral compared with other forms of financial savings. The 1990s began with radical changes to national super announced in the 1991 budget that would have converted the pension into a welfare benefit. The government was forced to backtrack and was left wondering what to do. Announcing the formation of the 1991 Task Force, the New Zealand Herald’s Simon Collins, under the heading Task force to study compulsory super, reported that the eight-member task force “will consider requiring New Zealanders to contribute to compulsory private pension schemes. The eight-member task force will also consider tax incentives for retirement saving, regulation of superannuation schemes and compulsory retirement ages. The group would report to a joint cabinet-caucus committee chaired by the Prime Minister, Mr Bolger.” In fact, the Hon WF (Bill) Birch was our principal government contact.
    [Show full text]
  • Government Provision of Welfare in Aotearoa New Zealand: We're Doing
    VANESSA JAMES GOVERNMENT PROVISION OF WELFARE IN AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND: WE’RE DOING IT WRONG LLM RESEARCH PAPER LAWS 531: WELFARE LAW AND SOCIAL OBLIGATION FACULTY OF LAW 2015 2 Government Provision of Welfare in Aotearoa New Zealand: We’re Doing it Wrong Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................ 3 Word length ........................................................................................................................ 3 Subjects and Topics .............................................................................................................. 3 I INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 4 A What is Social Security? .............................................................................................. 4 B The Place of Welfare .................................................................................................... 5 C Types of Welfare State ................................................................................................. 6 D Welfare Stigma ............................................................................................................. 7 II THE EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL SECURITY IN NEW ZEALAND ..................... 8 A The Social Security Act 1938 ....................................................................................... 8 B Enabling Participation and Belonging ......................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • New Zealand Women Today; How Close Is New Zealand to Conforming to CEDAW and Achieving Substantive Equality?
    http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/ Research Commons at the University of Waikato Copyright Statement: The digital copy of this thesis is protected by the Copyright Act 1994 (New Zealand). The thesis may be consulted by you, provided you comply with the provisions of the Act and the following conditions of use: Any use you make of these documents or images must be for research or private study purposes only, and you may not make them available to any other person. Authors control the copyright of their thesis. You will recognise the author’s right to be identified as the author of the thesis, and due acknowledgement will be made to the author where appropriate. You will obtain the author’s permission before publishing any material from the thesis. A HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN NEW ZEALAND: HAS CEDAW HAD AN IMPACT? A Thesis Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Of A Master of Laws At The University of Waikato By Heidi Jones Year of Submission: 2013 Abstract This thesis analyses the current and historical status of women in New Zealand for the purpose of discovering why full equality between men and women has not yet been achieved. This object will be accomplished by analysing, comparing and contrasting the international Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (“CEDAW”) with changes successive New Zealand Governments have made to the status of women so as to discover the degree of intent such Governments have had to implement equality. This thesis is in chronological order, beginning from an analysis of the creation of the status of women dating pre 1300 B.C., detailing degradations, changes and improvements in the status up until 2012 A.D.
    [Show full text]
  • Constitutional Nonsense? the ‘Unenforceable’ Fiscal Responsibility Act 1994, the Financial Management Reform, and New Zealand’S Developing Constitution
    CONSTITUTIONAL NONSENSE? THE ‘UNENFORCEABLE’ FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT 994, THE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT REFORM, AND NEW ZEALAND’S DEVELOPING CONSTITUTION CHYE-CHING HUANG* ‘Once again, in promoting this legislation New Zealand leads the world. This is pioneering legislation. It is distinctly New Zealand – style.’ (22 June 1994) 541 NZPD 2010 (Ruth Richardson) ‘[It] is constitutional nonsense. The notion that this Parliament will somehow bind future Governments on fiscal policy…is constitutional stupidity.’ (26 May 1994) 540 NZPD 1143 (Michael Cullen) The Fiscal Responsibility Act 1994 (the ‘FRA’) was part of New Zealand’s Financial Manage- ment Reform, a reform said to have introduced new values – efficiency, economy, effectiveness and choice – into the law.1 The FRA is peculiar because the courts may not be able to enforce it. Despite this, the authors of the FRA expected it to impact profoundly on the thinking and behav- iour of the executive, Parliament, and the electorate.2 The debate about how the FRA has affected the executive, Parliament, and the electorate con- tinues.3 Yet no one has analyzed thoroughly how the FRA has affected – or might affect – judicial reasoning.4 This article attempts that analysis, and concludes that the FRA may have profound legal and even constitutional effects, despite being ‘unenforceable’. The finding that the FRA may have legal and constitutional effects could be useful for two reasons. First, the FRA’s constitutional effects suggest that judicial reform of the constitution may tend to privilege the neo-liberal values that the Financial Management Reform wrote into law. Parliamentary sovereignty could be said to encourage a free and contestable market place of ideas, but this supposed strength may be paradoxically used to legally entrench values.
    [Show full text]
  • Navigating New Zealand's Welfare System
    Scraping By and Making Do: Navigating New Zealand’s Welfare System A thesis submitted to Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Cultural Anthropology By Evelyn Walford-Bourke 2020 Acknowledgements Thank you to Eli and Lorena, for all your help and encouragement. Thank you to Vicky, for your never-ending support and reminders to “just get started!” Thank you to Nana W, for all your support over this journey. Thank you to Hayley, Ruth, Alex, and Morgan, for your patience while I disappeared off on this project. Thank you to all those who participated in this project and helped to make it happen. 2 Abstract In August 2017, debate over Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei’s declaration of two-decade- old benefit fraud sparked an ongoing discussion around poverty in New Zealand that revealed the fraying edges of the country’s welfare safety net. The perception that New Zealand has a low level of poverty and a fair, coherent welfare system that ensures those “deserving” of support receive what they need is untrue. Instead, there is an extraordinary disconnect between those responsible for running New Zealand’s welfare system and the daily experience of beneficiaries and NGO workers who must navigate the complex welfare landscape to address hardship. Patching together the threads of a fraying safety net, for New Zealand’s most vulnerable, is little-appreciated work, but crucial to their survival nonetheless. In this thesis, I explore how beneficiaries and NGO workers use tactics to manage the gaps between policy, practice and need created by state strategy in order to address hardship.
    [Show full text]
  • Well Being for Whanau and Family
    Monitoring the Impact of Social Policy, 1980–2001: Report on Significant Policy Events Occasional Paper Series Resource Report 1 Monitoring the Impact of Social Policy, 1980–2001: Report on Significant Policy Events Occasional Paper Series Resource Report 1 DECEMBER 2005 Stephen McTaggart1 Department of Sociology The University of Auckland 1 [email protected] Citation: McTaggart, S. 2005. Monitoring the Impact of Social Policy, 1980–2001: Report on Significant Policy Events. Wellington: SPEaR. Published in December 2005 by SPEaR PO Box 1556, Wellington, New Zealand ISBN 0-477-10012-0 (Book) ISBN 0-477-10013-9 (Internet) This document is available on the SPEaR website: Disclaimer The views expressed in this working paper are the personal views of the author and should not be taken to represent the views or policy of the Foundation of Research Science and Technology, the Ministry of Social Development, SPEaR, or the Government, past or present. Although all reasonable steps have been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information, no responsibility is accepted for the reliance by any person on any information contained in this working paper, nor for any error in or omission from the working paper. Acknowledgements The Family Whānau and Wellbeing Project was funded by the Foundation of Research, Science and Technology, New Zealand. Practical support from the Department of Statistics and the University of Auckland is also gratefully acknowledged. Thanks also to the members of the Family Whānau and Wellbeing Project team for their academic and technical support. The author would like to thank those who assisted with the report’s preparation.
    [Show full text]
  • Insights News and Views on Financial and Portfolio Matters Issue 20, Winter 2017
    Insights News and Views on Financial and Portfolio Matters Issue 20, Winter 2017 In this issue: KEY THEMES FOR THE PERIOD THE WORLD THAT WAS – CASTING BACK 25 YEARS 25 YEARS A LETTER FROM DIRECTORS HOW THE MARKETS FARED The world that was: Key themes Casting back 25 years In recognition of Rutherford Rede’s 25th year anniversary international equity (around 7% p.a.) markets, as well as in this market commentary we step back from our usual fixed income returns (7.2% p.a). quarterly update to consider the bigger picture - what some for the period: Over the past quarter century New Zealand has transformed of the major changes have been in New Zealand and abroad massively to the relatively prosperous place we enjoy today. • NZ, the ideal place to live, work and do business over the past quarter of a century and how these have Our export base has become much more diversified, and influenced capital markets and returns. But rest assured, • Is the Trump honeymoon over? over the June quarter returns were solid. Developed, much less dependent on a few markets. Our population emerging, and especially the New Zealand equity market has increased by over 1 million people (or over 30%), with • Interest rates are lifting in the US, though unlikely (up 6 percent) recorded good gains for the quarter whilst much of growth taking place in Auckland from new arrivals. in NZ until 2018 fixed income eked a small positive return. In line with this, Over 500,000 Aucklanders were born overseas, making economic data was also generally ahead of expectations, Auckland one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world.
    [Show full text]
  • Are We There Yet?
    Reducing Child Poverty in Aotearoa: Are we there yet? Innes Asher Professor Emeritus Department of Paediatrics: Child and Youth Health, The University of Auckland Health Spokesperson, Child Poverty Action Group www.cpag.org Today I will talk about Background/history Labour-led government initiatives from 2017 Latest child poverty statistics What is needed now Reducing Child Poverty in Aotearoa: Are we there yet? nah yeah The $2-3 billion Child Poverty per year needed Reduction Act for benefit incomes has not Minister for Child been delivered Poverty Reduction There is no plan to do so Small increases in incomes and Government’s decreases in vision for income hardship adequacy, dignity and standard of Some poverty living for those in mitigation the welfare measures system has not been delivered Increases in minimum wage About 15% of children remain in severe poverty Why has child poverty increased? Factors which impact on child poverty rates: • Policy changes • Society’s structural and cultural norms • The economy and labour market • Demographic shifts Some history • Labour 1984-1990 “Rogernomics” (Roger Douglas Minister of Finance) – Free-market policies introduced – Up to 1990 income support benefits for working age adults (benefits) were near adequate • National 1990-3 “Ruthanasia”(Ruth Richardson Minister of Finance) – 1991 Budget: benefits were slashed by up to 27%, family benefit abolished “Mother of all budgets” Child income poverty following income policy changes Main source of parent’s After 1991 Before 1991 benefit cuts income of parent benefit cuts (1994)* Parent in paid work Income poverty 18-20% 18-20% Parent on benefit Income poverty 25% 75% Perry B.
    [Show full text]