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    Moral education and 'equal freedom' : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Education
    (Massey University, 1974) Cresswell, Roger Gledhill
    For there to be any point in speaking about "moral education" there must be understanding of what it is to make moral decisions; for moral education is concerned with providing the machinery for decision-making in moral contexts. The decision-procedure which a person adopts allows him to make consistent and appropriate decisions by providing reasons which justify his moral judgement. In the first part of this thesis the argument is put forward that as morality is essentially a social phenomenon concerned with the way in which people act towards each other it must indicate what desirable behaviour is. Moral judgements, which determine what desirable behaviour is, are guided by the fact that rational men show some respect for each other as persons and have the capacity to universalise the consequences of their actions or appreciate what would occur if others acted as they do. A reasonable assumption to make in considering basic moral principles seems to be that men prefer not to be interfered with. From this assumption the Principle of Equal Freedom is derived - Each person should attribute equal value to the freedom of others as he does to his own freedom. Now in order to avoid interference where this is possible, there have to be means of establishing what other people might want or how they might act in situations where what one person does could affect what someone else can do. Sometimes we can identify ourselves with others and thus appreciate how they feel about a situation but this is not always possible nor appropriate: We therefore attempt to gauge how another is interpreting a situation, in order to gain knowledge of his thoughts and feelings concerning the situation he finds himself in. To have some knowledge of another's feelings and thoughts about a situation involving conflict of interests is essential to the understanding of the priciple of equal freedom, however the principle in itself is insufficient, because people's wants and needs vary according to other values. To operate the principle we have to take cognizance of various other principles which might be derived from it. How each person relates particular values to the principle determines his moral code, which outlines how he justifies moral decisions he makes. The second part of the thesis begins by establishing that formal education is a process which is concerned with passing on skills, ideas and values which society thinks are worthwhile. The passing on of values and how they can be interpreted as functional in guiding behaviour is the concern of moral education. Procedures to be adopted in moral education must relate to what would be considered as the criteria for success in this kind of teaching for there must be some idea of what is hoped to be achieved. The principle of equal freedom encourages understanding of others and offers a bse for the establishment of a consistent decision-procedure for making moral judgements. By introducing material which aids pupils to think about and gain understanding of the life-styles of others it is possible to help to develop the means for justifying the moral judgements which have to be made. The thesis concludes with suggestions as to how the educator might encourage understanding of others without in any way interfering with the notions of moral autonomy and freedom of choice.
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    You and I aren't so equal : the visual representation of gender inequality in the contemporary New Zealand workforce and the visual manifestation of inequality in Wellington's southern suburbs : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Visual and Material Culture at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2013) Ellen-Eliza, Natalie
    Inequality abounds. It is a complex issue that a#ects all manner of environmental, political, economic, and social factors. It underlies many detrimental phenomena including sexism and crime. Inequality holds an ambiguous presence in academic scholarship yet it a#ects the lives of many. To show how inequality is registered within the social fabric is one aim of this thesis. Epidemiologists Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson (2010) begin to propose inequality as a concept that can be seen in daily life. Based on this proposition, the present studies investigate the visuality of inequality across three chapters. Despite much progress, gender inequality and inequity remain present in the contemporary New Zealand workforce. As has been highlighted in much feminist theory, gender and women’s studies, representation is a significant factor in the activation of gendered identities and positive visual representations of women can reduce gender inequity. Tertiary education providers were turned to for analysis on the basis that educational inequalities develop into workplace inequalities. Specifically, selected visuals from Massey University’s College of Creative Arts and four trades training institutions (Unitec, Wintec, Weltec, and the Open Polytechnic) were analysed to reveal indexes symptomatic of inequality. These are undertaken to examine whether women are represented equivalently to data and if non-governmental organisations are implementing governmental suggestions for change.The final chapter addresses inequality in public space manifest in the form of graffiti, postering, visual sign, and demonstration determined as ‘interventions’. A set of theoretical lenses including the work of Michel Foucault, Karl Marx, and Alfred Gell, is used to examine a selection of interventions in relation to concepts of power, landownership, current a#airs, authorship, site-specificity, and surveillance technologies. Here a cultural reading of the visuality of inequality is made. In sum, this thesis posits two everyday places as sites where discourse on inequality visually manifests so as to better understand its cause.