Louise Humpage - Policy Change, Public Attitudes and Social Citizenship: Does Neoliberalism Matter?

POLICY CHANGE,
PUBLIC ATTITUDES AND
SOCIAL CITIZENSHIP

Does neoliberalism matter?

Louise Humpage

First published in Great Britain in 2015 by

Policy Press University of Bristol 1-9 Old Park Hill Bristol BS2 8BB UK Tel +44 (0)117 954 5940 e-mail

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Policy Press 2015

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ISBN 9781447323518 ePub

ISBN 9781447323525 Kindle

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Readers Guide

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No book can be written without the support of others and this is no exception.

I am grateful for research funding from the New Zealand Royal Society Marsden Fund (#UOA603), the University of Aucklands Faculty of Arts Research Development Fund and Summer Scholarship programme, as well as the Department of Sociology.

I would like to thank the research participants who took part in my qualitative study about social citizenship in 200708. The book, however, would not have been possible without the rich survey data developed by other scholars. Special thanks go to Jack Vowles (for giving me access to the latest New Zealand Election Study data) and Paul Perry (who allowed me to use some of his unpublished New Zealand Values Study data). I also wish to acknowledge all of the people behind the British and Australian social attitudes and election studies I have drawn upon.

The arguments I make in this book are original but I have published articles using some of the same qualitative and quantitative data in New Zealand Sociology, Policy Quarterly, Social Policy Journal of New Zealand, Kotuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online and Australian Journal of Social Issues. I have also presented related findings at the Annual Conference of the International Sociological Association Research Committee on Poverty, Social Welfare and Social Policy (RC 19), Canadian Political Science Association Annual Meeting, 12th International Conference on Diversity, British Social Policy Association Conference, Australian Social Policy Conference, New Zealand Political Studies Association Conference, Sociological Association of Aotearoa (New Zealand) Conference and at various University of Auckland seminars. I appreciate all the feedback I have been given.

Martin van Randow at the University of Aucklands Centre of Methods & Policy Application, has been particularly helpful, but other colleagues have also read or commented upon parts of the book, including: Maureen Baker, Daniel Edmiston, Peter Skilling, Gerry Cotterell, Bruce Curtis, Charles Crothers and the books anonymous reviewers. I have also benefited from research assistance on related research projects from: Lis Cotter; Catherina Muhamad-Brandner; Stephen McTaggart; Rebecca Walsh; Tanja Ottaway; Angela Maynard; Ieti Lima; Louise Crehan; Julia Scott and Alex Lee. Appreciation also goes to Emily Watt, Rebecca Tomlinson and Laura Vickers at the Policy Press for answering my many questions.

Finally, thanks must go to my ever-patient partner, Bradley Smith; I have been writing this book almost as long as I have known him and I look forward to seeing more of him now it is complete!

When I was growing up in New Zealand in the 1970s, we were in the middle of a global economic recession. The impact this had on my family was softened by the confidence that we had a right to healthcare, education and a job paying decent wages. Admittedly, my family would not have articulated this using the language of rights; instead, we held an unconscious expectation that the state would play an important role in supporting key aspects of our lives. These assumptions were gendered: my father expected his job as a Post Office telephone engineer would also support his wife and four children, with his union negotiating wages and conditions to this end, while my mother received the universal Family Benefit which recognised the costs and value of bringing up children and the societal impact of poverty among the young. Low interest government loans encouraged home ownership but we lived in a state housing area, where fair rent provisions ensured decent housing for all New Zealanders. When we were sick, we paid only a nominal fee to the local General Practitioner because the state subsidised private doctors. Emergency services at hospital were completely free. My siblings and I also attended the local state primary and secondary schools without charge and, when my brother entered university in the early 1980s, he paid minimal student union fees while the cost of his degree was funded by the state.