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