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    Don't ask, don't tell : a hidden tool of oppression : single mother's beliefs, media, stereotypes, and stigma : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2018) McFadyen, Joanne C. A.
    As a social construction at structural level, stigma exerts significant impact on the wellbeing of individuals, yet within the socio-cultural and political landscape stigma is utilised as legitimate form of social control with few mechanisms for limitation – despite links to discrimination and prejudice. Previous literature has found associations between discrimination and long term ill-health of those targeted, with relationships identified between system-justification (belief in the justness of society) and threat cardiovascular reactivity. Dominant mainstream media have been identified performing a significant structural role in the propagation of stigma. Single mothers are stigmatised and targeted by media and society, with a growing body of research reporting health disparities for them in poorer psychological and physical health outcomes. The aim of this study was to explore single mothers’ system beliefs, views of media and their lived experience of stigma, whilst collecting contextual demographic and health data. Eleven women participated, watching mainstream media headlines with interviews conducted afterwards. A social constructionist orientation and thematic approach was employed to analyse the women’s talk. Thematic analysis revealed a hidden culture single mothers recognised underlying injustices. Where “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has previously been utilised to ease participation for stigmatised individuals, this was identified in this study as a discourse of dehumanisation. Single mothers illuminate this as strategic practice employed by media, society, and institutions to mutual benefit, perpetuating single mothers’ oppression – irrespective of their adherence to neoliberal dogma.
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    Nonprofessional involvement in helping services in Palmerston North : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1974) Daniels, Kenneth Raymond
    Helping as it has been influenced by the development of a welfare state philosophy is examined. A review is made of the societal changes that have and are continuing to have a potent influence on the established networks of support, care and help. The results of these societal changes and consequent network changes are seen in the rapid increase in demands for professional helping services. These rapidly increased demands have been matched by a rapid increase in personnel in helping services. The contribution of the nonprofessional has been somewhat curtailed as a result of the emphasis on the growth of professional helpers. The literature from overseas records evidence of the re-emergence of the nonprofessional helper as a powerful contributor to meeting the needs of the community. In this respect the concept of 'community care' is becoming a reality. The literature reviewed points to the contribution the nonprofessional is and can be making and overwhelmingly supports the positive nature of this contribution. This study examined what happened in Palmerston North in terms of the nonprofessional contribution to helping services. All professional helpers (psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors and social workers) in the city, were interviewed and a 20% sample of nonprofessional helpers drawn from selected helping agencies were interviewed. 75 professional helpers and 76 nonprofessional helpers were interviewed personally, two separate questionnaires being used. The results show that helpers were predominantly aged 31 to 60 (75%) and less than 2% were under 22. There were equal numbers of males and females. 81.4% of professional helpers worked in government or quasi-government services, while only 3.9% of nonprofessionals linked up with such services to make their contributions. Over half of the professional helpers are social workers and only 40% of all professional helpers have a professional qualification. Both professional and nonprofessional helpers feel overwhelmingly that the nonprofessional has a contribution to make. However 56.6% of nonprofessionals had never been asked for help by a professional. Those who had been asked, were most frequently asked to provide 'befriending/support'. This is what most nonprofessionals wanted to be asked to do and over half of the professionals felt this was the best contribution the nonprofessional could make. Almost 100% of nonprofessionals felt capable of offering 'material' help or 'befriending/support', while 77% felt capable of offering 'advice and guidance' and 51% 'counselling'. 42.6% of professionals had requested nonprofessional assistance in the past week, while 7.9% of nonprofessionals had received such a request in the same period. Overall, nonprofessionals felt that professionals understood them, but almost 20% felt they did not receive enough encouragement or support. The expectations each group had of the other were investigated and it was found that overall, both groups had similar expectations. The advantages and disadvantages each group had found of working with the other were explored. The results give a valuable insight into the positive and negative experiences helpers in each group have had of working with the other group. Three implications are drawn from the study, firstly concerning the utilization of resources, secondly, relationship factors and thirdly, differentiation of skills.
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    The politicisation of motherhood : silencing sole mothers : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2013) Neill-Weston, Frances
    In most OECD countries adolescent child-bearing and child-rearing is regarded as the forerunner of social, economic, employment and educational disadvantage particularly for young sole mothers receiving State-provided benefits. The National-led government has argued that the cost of social welfare benefits, an estimated $7.6 billion in 2008/2009, is no longer sustainable. Towards the end of 2012 following recommendations from a government-appointed Welfare Working Party, the social welfare system was restructured to 'encourage' recipients to search for paid employment by restricting their opportunities for support if they did not. This study explored how young sole mothers experienced mothering, and made snese of the processes and consequences of the National-led government's reforms, in a socio-political environment that overtly prioritises paid work. Using thematic analysis of narratives obtained from unstructured interviews with 10 adolescent sole mothers attending a teen parent education unit in the greater Wellington area, the study also sought to understand the ways in which sole mothers are silenced on political issues affecting their futures. The research is based on feminist principles of empowerment of women and social justice and is situated within Michel Foucault's postulations that Governments, their institutions and their representatives, structure actions and use language to discipline and silence individuals and groups to maintain normative power and control. Themes from participants' narratives included an unambiguous preference for hands-on/full-time mothering with support as needed; intractable difficulties in coping with inadequate DPB benefits with social isolation as a consequence; an acceptance of the need to obtain paid work, but only when their child is settled and ready; a determination to obtain further qualifications in order to achieve a better life for their child and themselves coupled with a largely unrecognised resilience.
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    Welfare state retrenchment in New Zealand under National rule 1990 - 1996 : a Marxist perspective : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Social Policy at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2001) Cotterell, Gerard Anthony
    Shortly after their election in October 1990, the National Government announced radical changes to the welfare state in New Zealand. The reforms were necessary, National argued, in order to restore growth to the economy. The reforms were designed to impose a residual welfare state, requiring significant retrenchment of the state provision of welfare. Existing accounts of the welfare retrenchment process in New Zealand by National Governments between 1990-1996 fail to adequately take into account two factors. First, the location of this retrenchment process in the economic downturn faced by New Zealand. Second, the role of the state in implementing the retrenchment process. In this thesis I argue that an orthodox Marxist framework enhances existing understandings of the retrenchment process. This framework argues that the state in times of crisis will act in the interests of capital to restore profitability to the economy. The state will adopt particular strategies aimed at reducing state expenditure, of which spending on welfare constitutes a considerable portion, and at tailoring social policy to the needs of the market. The state will also use economic and ideological arguments consistent with New Right thinking to impose its reform agenda. I employ an orthodox Marxist theoretical framework to identify the kinds of strategies a New Right government would use to retrench or roll back state welfare provision. In particular this thesis examines the retrenchment strategies adopted by National Governments between 1990 and 1996 in the social policy areas of income support and state funded pensions. The evidence suggests that an orthodox Marxist framework provides a valuable lens through which to view the welfare retrenchment process in the areas of income support and state funded pensions in New Zealand between 1990 and 1996.
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    Transformation of the welfare state in New Zealand with special reference to employment : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of the Doctor of Philosophy in Economics at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1997) De Bruin, Anne Marguerite
    This study examines the transformation of New Zealand's welfare state in the movement to a new phase of capitalist development. It adopts a multi-level approach linking the global, national and local levels. The global level analysis provides the overall rationale for the development and subsequent restructuring of welfare states and reordering of the welfare mix more toward the market. At the national level, highlighting the collapse of its foundations, this study contends that New Zealand's welfare state has transformed into a 'well-being enabling state'. The goal of the well-being enabling state is to ensure private provision of welfare through labour market participation in a deregulated labour market, rather than through direct state provision. Employment policy, including policies for enhancement of human capital, are therefore discussed as 'enablers' of participation in paid employment and private procurement of well-being. At the local level, specific characteristics of the local labour market have to be included in the analysis. The need for community action for employment creation in order to respond to the challenges of the global economy and a transformed national welfare state, is a major theme of the study. A case study of community employment creation, conducted through a participatory research methodology, highlights the need for innovative local efforts for job creation at the micro or grassroots level. Local employment initiatives, especially those that build on a partnership approach and tap into the cultural wealth of the community through market-leading community entrepreneurship, are shown to be crucial to the mitigation of the current ethnic unemployment problem in New Zealand.
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    Male breadwinner households and work : alterations in the transition to a liberal welfare regime : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Social Policy at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 1997) Barrett, Patrick Neville
    This thesis examines how the nexus between households and work in New Zealand has been altered by the transition from a wage earner cum social expenditure welfare regime to a liberal welfare regime. The proposition that welfare regimes are characterised by distinctive institutional arrangements and labour market outcomes is explored at the micro-level through household life and work histories. Life and work history data from a small number of Palmerston North male breadwinner households was used to examine the way individuals' lives have been affected by the institutional context at distinctive historical epochs. The thesis discusses the implications for household labour market activity and experience in each regime. Strong cultural and normative continuities are noted despite the trend towards dual earner households. Variation in the potential for labour market mobility across regimes is observed in terms of changing opportunities for skill acquisition. Change in the experience of unemployment and subsequent labour supply responses is examined. Increasing employment insecurity is found to be an outcome of increasing risk of job loss, declining levels of input into jobs and declining levels of protection from adversity in employment relationship. With fewer employment opportunities in the liberal regime, yet with increasing welfare selectivism, the nexus between households and work is found to be characterised by a greater level of income necessity. Households' responses include the supply of "additional" labour - an added-worker effect - whereby they take whatever work can be found, often lower paid and with poor conditions. The examination at the micro-level of how household labour market activity and experience had been altered by the transition to the liberal regime was found to enhance the understanding of change in the interface between work and welfare.