Massey Documents by Type

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/294

Browse

Subject: search.filters.subject.Political aspects

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 23
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Across borders and time : testing the competing perspectives of system justification : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2025-08-29) Valdes, Evan Armando
    Why do people defend societal systems that perpetuate inequality and injustice? This question is increasingly relevant in today’s geopolitical climate, amid growing tensions between calls for progressive social change and maintenance of a traditional, sometimes polarized, status quo. System Justification Theory (SJT) posits that individuals are motivated—due to both dispositional and situational factors—to defend and justify existing social, economic, and political systems, even when doing so may conflict with their self- or group-interests. Competing theories, however, argue that system justification is largely a reflection of those interests. This thesis tests these competing perspectives on system justification across countries and time through four studies, using a consistent four-item measure of general system justification for comparability. Study 1 examined SJT’s status-legitimacy hypothesis in China and the United States, using both subjective and objective indicators of socioeconomic status (SES). Subjective SES consistently positively predicted system justification across cultures and time, aligning with self- and group-interest explanations. Objective SES, however, showed only weak and inconsistent support for SJT in China. Study 2 expanded the scope cross-culturally, comparing SJT to the social identity perspectives and Social Dominance Theory, using data from 42 countries. Results largely favored self- and group-interest explanations over SJT across cultures. Study 3 tested SJT’s claim that system justification provides psychological benefits in the form of enhanced psychological wellbeing using four waves of longitudinal data. Bidirectional cross-lagged panel modeling showed that system justification predicted greater subjective SES via increased life satisfaction over time, but not vice versa, supporting SJT’s claim that system-justifying beliefs can confer psychological benefits independent of materials self-interest. However, when assessing this model using more robust longitudinal techniques, no such effect was observed. Study 4 used a longitudinal quasi-experiment centered around New Zealand’s 2023 general election to compare SJT with the Social Identity Model of System Attitudes (SIMSA). Results showed that system justification generally coincided with self- and group-interests among electoral winners and losers in line with SIMSA. However, among disadvantaged electoral losers, perceived system threat [of SJT] better explained continued system justification than did optimism about the future [of SIMSA], providing stronger support for SJT. Overall, this thesis demonstrates that system justification arises from a complex interplay of individual, situational, ideological, and societal factors. While system justification often reflects self- and group-interests, under certain conditions it functions as an ideological mechanism that can conflict with these very interests to uphold societal structures – especially when those structures are perceived to be under threat. This supports the view of system justification as both an ideological disposition and a palliative mechanism, sustaining societal structures despite inequality. Such insights highlight the challenge of addressing systemic injustice and underscore the need to frame social change in ways that align with psychological motivation and a desire for stability.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Contemporary jewellery as affective experience : resisting biopolitics : an exegesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2024-11-05) Zellmer, Johanna
    Through this creative, practice-led research I consider the affective aesthetic experience of contemporary jewellery as an interactive event of resistance. ‘Contemporary jewellery’ is a field of visual art practice distinct from commercial, fashion and costume jewellery. Its objects relate the body to the world through affective events, through which they may be considered as a mode of political intervention. As a jeweller, I am working in the space between craft and bioart, where materials are in a continuous visceral process of transformation. My project focusses on the making of collars and chokers out of used Illumina flow cells, waste products of the data collection technology known as DNA sequencing. Encircling and adorning a neck with these materials can create a significant affective experience. The human neck is a site of vulnerability and affect, where acts of power are displayed and experienced. Both jewellery and genomics are instruments of identity construction: the former a technology of the self and the latter a study of human bodies through scientific observation. Contemporary scholars such as Pravu Mazumdar, Elizabeth Povinelli, Stefan Muecke, and Thomas Lemke have undertaken extended research on such biopolitical conditioning. As an outcome of my craft training, my research inquiry is led by a creative, object-based practice. I have adopted the methodological framework known as speculative experimentation. This approach aligns with jewellery’s affective aesthetics through ‘critical hesitation, reflective questioning and thinking with unthinkable futures’. The experience of the resulting work can be destabilising and in turn creates hesitation, tension, and resistance. Artists and theorists Lauren Kalman, Tiffany Parbs, Agnieszka Wołodźko, and Renée Hoogland draw on these affective qualities of contemporary art and adornment. Informed by these key sources, this research project considers the agency of collars and chokers made from DNA sequencing tools as resistive ‘noise’ or irritants undermining the biopolitical standardisation of life and self. By fastening adornments firmly around the bare skin of a human neck, I am seeking to channel the haptic experience of these affective material objects into modes of resistance.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Transnational creative activism : writing activism poetry in response to an international human rights crisis ; &, Border walker poetry collection : a thesis and poetry collection presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Creative Writing at Massey University, Albany . EMBARGOED until at least 17 Nov 2025.
    (Massey University, 2022) Geers, April-Rose
    In this thesis, I explore, analyse, and demonstrate creative writing, and more specifically poetry, as a means of transnational creative activism. In my critical essays, I discuss key practices and principles of creative activism, as a scholarly field, and expand definitions to encompass activism poetry and short stories, focussing specifically on writing that crosses spaces. In my poetry collection Border Walker, I navigate barriers of geography, culture, language, and religion to connect with followers of the Bahá’í Faith suffering persecution in Iran and to take action for their cause. My understanding of transnational activism poetry relies on notions of: imagination and participation, as developed from advancements in creative activism scholarship and reader-response theory; empathy and intimacy, as an intervention in current developments in affect theory; and lyricism and reflexivity, as a means of finding a position from which to speak. In my poetry and my essays, I reflect on my position as an Aotearoa New Zealand woman poet writing about a people and culture once foreign to me, and engage with the ethical issues and potential consequences of my work. This thesis is practice-as-research with publications and was conducted with approval of the Massey University Human Ethics Northern Committee. The weighting is 50% critical essays, comprising a theoretical framework, literary analysis, exegesis, and craft exposition; and 50% creative, in the form of a poetry collection.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Welfare and single Māori mothers in the media : symbolic power and the case of Metiria Turei : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Albany New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Martin, Ahnya
    This thesis explores the case of Metiria Turei (former Green Party co-leader) who sparked considerable media outrage when she announced publicly that as a single mother receiving welfare decades earlier, she had taken on flat mates without notifying Work and Income New Zealand. Metiria made this announcement in an attempt to highlight current problems in the welfare system and to promote the need for systemic change. The resulting media coverage offers an interesting case of how symbolic power is used within media spaces to shape constructions of issues of poverty and welfare, and the people involved. This study involved two main empirical elements. The first was a systematic analysis of 366 television, radio and online items that made up the media public controversy surrounding Metiria’s admission. The media analysis documents how a hegemonic anti-welfare perspective came to dominate corporate news media coverage, which was contested via various social media platforms. I document how the growing pressure from conservative news commentators worked to silence both Metiria Turei and her supporters who were active on social media in promoting the need for structural changes in the welfare system. In the second element, I selected 12 key items from the media coverage of the controversy and presented these to two focus groups involving eight wāhine Māori (Māori women) who had been recipients of welfare (sole purpose benefit or domestic purpose benefit). The focus group analysis reveals how these participants challenged the narrow neoliberal framing of news coverage of Metiria Turei’s admission. Participating wāhine readily identified and deconstructed the [ill]logic of the hegemonic perspective that was dominating coverage. These participants pointed to considerable problems in the welfare system that needed to be addressed, but which, despite a few notable exceptions, were not covered in any substantive way in the corporate news coverage as a whole. Overall, this thesis showcases the changing power dynamics between corporate news and social media regarding issues of welfare and morality today.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Haehae and the art of reconciliation : cutting through history to generations of artistic expression : an exegesis presented in partial fulfilment of Master of Fine Arts, Massey University, Wellington
    (Massey University, 2018) Bigham, Bonita
    At the heart of the Parihaka story is its people. Its origins, its resistance, its desecration, its desolation is its people. A place where its people have shaped its legacy, but one that could never be told or acknowledged without the survival of those people. Today its restoration, rejuvenation and revitalisation are still about its people. My people. From August 2000 to January 2001 an exhibition at Wellington’s City Gallery, curated by the late Te Miringa Hohaia, titled ‘Parihaka: The Art of Passive Resistance’ took the artistically interpreted story of those people, of that settlement, of that injustice and a hugely important but conveniently ignored part of this nation’s history to a wider public audience than ever before (Hohaia, O’Brien, & Strongman, 2001). It cut a swathe through the heart of ignorance, of cultural amnesia, of colonial government corruption and introduced thousands of unknowing citizens to a story purposefully forgotten and unspoken and one that, ironically today, still remains a largely unknown aspect of Aotearoa’s history. To date there has not been another single collection or exhibition of this magnitude brought together to speak directly of the Parihaka experience, but while the opportunity for continued education from an exhibition on that scale has not yet been realised, many other artworks, projects and exhibitions during the ensuing years have featured work which continues to educate by reflecting that painful legacy. That enduring pain continues to cut deep, into the consciousness of those of us who are descendants and into the psyche of those who come to the knowledge later in life, asking why they were never told (Warne, 2016). This thesis proposes to examine the integrated notion of cutting – or haehae, in its literal and figurative manifestations, on materials in creative output, within the hearts, minds and skin of Parihaka uri (descendants). It will examine its representative aspect within the art that relates to my Parihakatanga and is exemplified through many artforms created by other artists, with whom I share whakapapa to the Kipa (Skipper) whānau (family). I will also explore my own artistic response to that legacy, leading to the development of my final project, inspired by two specific personally experienced events – which on the surface seem totally unrelated, but in actuality are intrinsically linked. The first is ‘He Puanga Haeata,’ the Parihaka-Crown Reconciliation Ceremony held at Parihaka Pā on Friday 9 June 2017 (‘He Puanga Haeata’, 2017), while the second event is the May 2018 mass beaching of parāoa (sperm whales) along the South Taranaki coastline (Boult, 2018). Developing a cultural narrative and artistic transition from art reflecting pain, anguish and trauma to hope, promise and reconciliation is an ongoing challenge, a journey that myself and others may continue to articulate within various aspects of our work, cutting across history and generations.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The socio-psychological aspects of the personalization of politics : examining the process, conditional factors, and implications of parasocial relationships with political figures : a dissertation presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Hakim, Moh Abdul
    Amidst the growing complexity of modern politics, it has been documented that people tend to focus more on individual candidates instead of parties, developing psychological bonds with them personally. Although this phenomenon has been under much discussion recently, the socio- psychological explanation of political personalization in the literature is still largely scant. In addressing this gap, I advocate for the use of parasocial relationship theory to explain the social psychological aspects of political personalization. According to this theory, people have the ability to develop a one-sided feeling of intimacy with popular figures from a distance, as they repeatedly encounter the figures through media (conceptualized as parasocial relationships). To show the utility of this concept, I present a series of evidence showing the validity as well as generalisability of parasocial relationships with political figures as a psychological construct across Indonesia, New Zealand, and the United States in Chapter 2. Interestingly, our analyses also indicated that the type of political systems (presidential vs parliamentary) and the level of democratic maturity of a country play a crucial role in facilitating the formation of parasocial relationships with politicians. In Chapter 3, I demonstrate that parasocial relationships with political candidates are consistently linked to political news consumption. Moreover, this link was found to be largely mediated by experiences of being in imaginary interactions with the candidates during the news exposure situations. In Chapter 4, our analyses suggest that the presence of social media is likely to amplify the personalization of politics. It was revealed that those who frequently use social media are more likely to engage in social media interactions with political figures, leading to the formation of parasocial relationships with them. Finally, in Chapter 5, I elaborate on the theoretical implications of my findings within the broader context of the political psychology literature on political attachments. The practical implications of the findings are discussed in light of the rising popularity of the use of media technologies to cutivate people’s sense of intimacy with political candidates.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Essays on Shari'ah compliant equities : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Finance at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Karimov, Jamshid
    This dissertation presents three essays on Shari’ah Compliant Equities. The reported work analyses the impact of Shari’ah Compliant Requirements (SCR) on the capital structure of the firms and its effect on the cost of equity capital, payout policy and mitigation of firm-level political risk. The first study examines if the adoption of SCR affects the cost of equity capital for firms. It estimates the cost of equity capital, implied by market prices and analyst forecasts, and account for changes in growth expectations around the adoption of SCR. The results of the study show that the transitional implications of Shari’ah compliance can diverge depending on information spread. The findings reveal that getting a Shari’ah compliance certificate, initially increases the cost of equity for a firm, potentially due to higher financial constraints and other burdens associated with Shari’ah requirements. However, with greater exposure and awareness in Islamic markets, Shari’ah compliance eventually leads to a fall in the cost of equity. The industry-level, SCR adoption effects are stronger in relatively tangible sectors. Robustness analyses confirm that becoming Shari'ah-compliant increases the stock liquidity of SCR adopted firms, which co-varies negatively with the cost of equity. The second study examines if and to what extent the adoption of SCR affects the payout smoothing policy of firms. More importantly, this study aims to identify and assess a possible mechanism behind such linkage and measure the amount of fluctuations of earnings absorbed by investment, borrowings, and payout policies. Variance decomposition strategy that enables to empirically analyse the adjustments of borrowings and investment policies to comply with payout smoothing in order to buffer net income fluctuations in the environment of Shari’ah compliance is employed. Using a new approach in the literature, this chapter measures the extent of intertemporal payout smoothing across business cycles to test the permanent income hypothesis for firms. Accordingly, the impacts of temporary vs. permanent net income shocks on the payout policy of firms are distinguished. The study also, documents that even though their payout ratios are mostly independent from the year by year net income growth (temporary shocks), dividends are impacted deeply by long term net income growth (permanent shocks). Interestingly, being Shari'ah-compliant makes dividends more dependent on permanent income growth. The third study, using a novel Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) firm-level political risk index as a proxy for political risk and uncertainty firms face, examines the impact of firm-level risk on the cost of equity and dividend payouts policy of firms. The paper aims to shed light on the transitional implications of Shari’ah compliance on firms exposed to firm-level political risk. It analyses if the adoption of SCR mitigates the firm-level political risk and their impact on the cost of equity and dividend policy. Benchmark results show that 1% increase in the exposure of political risk contributes to a rise in its cost of equity capital by 0.2% and in dividend payout by 13%. Shari’ah compliance eventually leads to a fall in the cost of equity and a rise in dividend payouts, despite the exposure of the firm to political risk. These findings have important policy implications that are relevant to Shari’ah compliant equities and beyond.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Post-politics and the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Act 2013 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Resources and Environmental Planning at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) McLeay, Colin Ross
    This thesis draws on concepts of post-politics in an analysis of the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Act 2013. A short-term means for improving housing affordability by facilitating an increase in land and housing supply, the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Act 2013 had implications for the planning and development of select cities and districts in New Zealand. Introduced by a National-led Government, the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Act 2013 was enacted in sympathy with existing neo-liberal political and planning norms. The application of a post-political lens facilitates identification of the democratic limitations of the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Act 2013. Analysis of submissions to the select committee addressing the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Act 2013 and debates in the House of Representatives provides evidence of both limitations of the debates that shaped the enactment of the legislation and challenges to the content of the legislation. The ways in which debates were narrowed align with post-political themes of the acceptance of the neoliberal consensus, the erosion of democracy, the status of knowledge, scope of possible outcomes, and empty signifiers. The consensus that characterises post-political conditions is open to challenge, with scholars reporting on the potential of agonistic pluralism to facilitate democratic participatory planning.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Dimensionality, interconnectedness, and cross-national comparability : studies of the global trust in multinational representative samples : a thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Albany campus, Aotearoa New Zealand.
    (Massey University, 2020) Zhang, Jiqi
    Trust has been commonly portrayed as a desirable characteristic for both individuals and societies. However, debates around the conceptualisation of trust are still ongoing, as recent literature has challenged the conventional treatment of social and political trust as two unidimensional and separate constructs. It is believed that a simplistic conceptualisation and measurement of trust may overlook the multifaceted and interconnected nature of trust and potentially distort cross-national comparisons. This thesis investigates the dimensionality, interconnectedness, and cross-national comparability of trust using representative samples from a multinational online survey project. Study 1 demonstrated a conditional interconnection between social and political trust in the context of 11 democratic societies: different types of trust formed two clusters that centre around social and political trust, respectively, but they were interconnected through the specific links between trust in neutral (non-partisan) institutions on the one hand and trust in community on the other hand. Study 2 demonstrated a culturally and politically contingent view of the structure of trust through a confirmatory factor analysis of the Global Trust Inventory. In four East Asian societies, two different models of trust (China model and Democratic East Asian model) fit the data better than the model suitable for the 11 western democracies in Study 1 (Western model), probably due to differences in culture and political systems. Study 3 demonstrated that two sub-measures of the Global Trust Inventory, capturing two types of social trust, were metrically invariant across 18 culturally and politically heterogeneous societies and across a six-month time interval. Results of a cross-lagged panel analysis further suggested that there was a bidirectional link between trust in community and life satisfaction, but life satisfaction was longitudinally associated with trust in close relations, not vice versa. Overall, this thesis supports a multidimensional and conditionally interconnected view of trust and explores ways of dealing with measurement non-invariance in cross-national survey research.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Where we are and how we got here : an institutional ethnography of the Nurse Safe Staffing Project in New Zealand : a thesis in fulfilment of the requirements for Doctor of Philosophy, Massey University, School of Nursing, College of Health, Manawatu, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) McKelvie, Rhonda
    Frontline nurses in New Zealand hospitals still work on short-staffed shifts 18 years after they began to express concerns about unsafe staffing and threats to patient safety. The Nurse Safe Staffing Project and its strategies (Escalation planning and the Care Capacity Demand Management Programme) were designed to address the incidence and risks of short-staffing. After a decade, these strategies are yet to yield tangible improvements to frontline nursing numbers. Using institutional ethnography, I have charted a detailed description and analysis of how aspects of the strategies of the Nurse Safe Staffing Project actually work in everyday hospital settings. Competing institutional knowledge and priorities organise what is happening on short-staffed shifts, and nurses are caught in the crossfire. The central argument throughout this thesis is that nurses’ vital situated knowledge and work are being organised by and overridden in this competitive institutional milieu. I show how what actually happens is consequential for nurses, patient care, and staffing strategies. This analytical exploration contributes knowledge about nurses’ situated and intelligent compensatory work on short-staffed shifts, how this knowledge is displaced by abstracted institutional knowledge, and the competing social relations present in environments where nurse-staffing strategies are negotiated.