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This thesis looks at the way the historical oppression of women in capitalist society is reproduced through a continuing gender division of labour at home and in the workplace. Women's primary responsibility for domestic labour in the home both defines and disadvantages them in the labour market. I argue that changing women's inferior status under capitalism depends on women organising for equality in the labour market. I develop the argument around women's status by looking at the way state activity shaped the conditions for social reproduction in the post-war period of capitalist growth followed by the onset of economic decline and state restructuring in New Zealand. I take a classical Marxist political economy approach to explain the end of the post-war boom as a 'structural crisis' of falling profits requiring the state to act for capital by establishing the conditions for the market to 'restructure' production to restore the conditions for profitability. The thesis focuses on the reduction of state welfare provision which impacted on women both as domestic labourers and wage labourers. These measures generated opposition. First, government's proposal for domestic purpose beneficiaries to undertake 'workfare' signaled a (failed) attempt to propel these women into work as a reserve army of labour and out of their primary role as domestic labourers supported by the state. Second, reducing state spending on the 'social wage' impacted directly on women workers in state sector areas of education and health. I interviewed women teachers who were active in their unions in resisting the pressures of reform and defending their jobs. The most politically conscious teachers were Marxists who agitated to advance workers from a trade union consciousness to a class consciousness. They understood that the union struggle was a class struggle of workers against a capitalist class on the offensive. They challenged union bureaucrats in accommodating to this. In their interventions, these women demonstrated the possibilities for overcoming gender inequality not through separatist strategies or liberal reforms that leave capitalist structures intact but through the transformative potential of union struggle for the 'socialist project'.

In this dissertation it is argued that humans constitute themselves as subjects in a complex of interrelationships between body, self, and society, The effects of these interrelationships are examined through the ways in which traumatic paraplegics constitute themselves as subjects following their accidents. Subsequent to paralysis there is a radical break in how paraplegics experience their bodies, in what they are physically able to do, and in the ways in which their bodies are interpreted socially, assigned meanings, and allocated space in which to do and be. Experiential accounts of paraplegia are presented as a means to exploring the implications of these changes in the ways paraplegics constitute themselves as subjects.

Organisations operate in an environment buffeted by social change. Child sexual abuse became publicly recognised as a social problem from 1986. The first part of this thesis examines public awareness of, and interest in child sexual abuse, how child sexual abuse arose in New Zealand, the influence of international "moral entrepreneurs" in shaping this recognition and the activities of local "moral entrepreneurs"' including some police officers, in assisting the move of child sexual abuse from the private to the public arena. The second part of this thesis examines organisational change and whether the causes for organisational change are environmentally or managerially driven. Or is it, as this thesis suggests a combination of both. This thesis takes these theoretical arguments and applies them to the process of organisational change that occurred in the New Zealand Police Department, from the development and implementation of the National Abuse Policy for the investigation of child sexual abuse and serious physical abuse. The third part of this thesis examines the interlinking between the main theoretical foci, organisational change and the construction of a social problem. The results of an investigation from key staff, Police and other agency personnel, from seven New Zealand Police Department Districts, interviewed in three waves over a two and a half year period, are reported. The total number of key staff from each wave was 93, 80 and 68. The results of the first part of the thesis is that through effective lobbying by the women's movement and child protection groups child sexual abuse has become a recognised social problem. In the second part of the thesis the following were found to be crucial factors in the shaping of organisational responses to child sexual abuse: The role of middle managers in the implementation of organisational change policies in assigning or not assigning appropriate resources. The role of the top management in the ownership of organisational change policies the procedures. Continual staff turnover and the policy of staff rotation limited the successful implementation and continued support for the National Abuse Policy. This factor, staff turn over and/or rotation, will impact on the success of any organisational change policy. The extent of the training provisions for police officers at all levels within the organisation and the maintenance of that training at a national and district level. Acceptance of the multidisciplinary investigative approach which differed from more traditional policing approaches. The internal and external pressure on the Police to implement and maintain a high profile response in the child sexual abuse field. The results of the third part of the thesis is that the Police Department played a role in the public recognition of child sexual abuse as a social problem and as a result had to implement an operational response through the development of a National Abuse Policy.

The deviance and alcohol literatures do not theorise expectations about minimum levels of alcohol consumption in any significant detail. Nor do they develop the notion that drinking less than is expected can be defined as a form of deviance. In response to this gap in the literature this thesis introduces and elaborates the concept of "underconsumption", defined briefly as the violation of minimum drinking norms. The thesis is also concerned to describe the key processes through which minimum drinking norms are produced and reproduced in social occasions' to demonstrate the public health significance of minimum drinking norms, and to provide evidence for the reality of "underconsumption" as a form of deviance in New Zealand society. Empirical research relied on face-to-face interviews, phone interviews, and postal surveys of 113 men - most of them abstainers or "light" drinkers. The main rationale was that likely violators of minimum drinking norms would be the most likely to have noticed and remembered the expression of minimum drinking norms. Transcripts and questionnaires were analysed with the assistance of qualitative database software. An important finding was that minimum drinking norms are in evidence throughout a broad cross-section of New Zealand society. It was also concluded that two of the main processes through which minimum drinking norms are produced and reproduced - people's reactions to abstention and lighter drinking styles and alcohol-centred hosting practices - continue to be in evidence. The relevant reactions and practices were also identified in a wide range of social groups. Furthermore, the case was presented that minimum drinking norms have potentially negative consequences for both individual "underdrinkers" and for societal levels of alcohol-related problems. These findings have important implications for the public health community and it is suggested that reference to a developed theory of "under-consumption" may have potential benefits for the planning of public health strategies and for public health policy. This research can also be seen to contribute to the alcohol literature, the deviance literature on alcohol, and the broader sociological literature on deviance. In the latter case, the analysis of "underconsumption" is most valuable by virtue of its status as "beneficial deviance".

This thesis describes the process of concentration and centralisation of the top New Zealand corporate class fraction at three levels - the corporate agent, the corporate agency and the corporate structure. These three different perspectives are seen, first, at the level of the empirical evidence of concentration and centralisation over time, and second, at the level of theoretical explanation and lastly, at the level of the sociology of knowledge, that is, how the theories themselves locate within economic cycles. The two empirical bases of this study are the survey of the top thirty companies directors and the top thirty companies networks of.1966, 1976 and 1986. A centrality analysis used on the latter three data sources, found that at the peak of the longwave (1966) when accumulation was high within the protected New Zealand economy, there were few corporate interlocks, suggesting that centralisation (the destruction of already formed capitals) was not a problem. But by the economic downturn (1986) corporate interlocks had proliferated reflecting the insecure nature of the corporate economy in crisis. The main conclusions drawn from the survey and the centralisation data sources positively corroborate the Marxist thesis that the corporate class fraction (as agents of capitalism) are in a free market economy as much directive as reactive to the state, that banks operate at direct and indirect levels of intervention on this class fraction and that there is some evidence of corporate class cohesion.

Class mobility in farming works both ways, some farmer's children are unable to afford a farm, while others from non-farm families do succeed in farm ownership. The literature reviewed in this thesis suggests this situation is related to New Zealand's economic history. In the past small family farms have benefited from both secure markets and governments whose interests have been closely bound up with high productivity. This has led the state to offer cheap credit to prospective farmers with little cap1al of their own. Upward mobility has been possible, but at the same time state support has enabled relatively small farms to remain viable, and many of these are unable to secure farm ownership for all family members. In this thesis I explore class mobility and career patterns among farm employees and consider their wider implications. There are many ambiguities in farm employment in New Zealand which stem from the predominance of petty bourgeois farm owners. Such farmers must deal with the capitalist markets of other sectors when they purchase inputs or sell their product but family workers may act as a bulwark against commercial pressures by accepting lower incomes. Similar conditions may be forced on working class farm employees with no chance of ownership. The high number of people leaving farm employment offers indirect confirmation of such problems and this thesis investigates the context in which departures occurred. Farm employees consist of three groups, those without interest in farm ownership, those with an interest and little chance of success, and those whose family background ensures farm ownership. Many farms only have one employee and take on non-family labour for short periods when the family labour which would otherwise do the task is unavailable. Some of the people they employ are offspring of neighbouring farm owners. This variation in class interests has exacerbated the disinclination of farm employees to lake collective action in the face of poor wages and conditions. By tracing a sample of farm employees through the electoral rolls over a period of ten years, I have been able to contact three groups of farm employees: those who have left for non-farm work in the intervening period; those who have been farm workers for at least ten years; and those who have since become farm owners. This has given me an insight into the proportion of farm employees who take up farming hoping to own their own farm, and the problems involved in succeeding. People who have left farming also provide an important perspective on farm employment. I have correlated outcome of career by various background factors, principally father's occupation, aspiration, and education. Job history is also important to my analysis. All these factors influence class mobility, and may either increase or mask the action of each other in different circumstances. By looking at mobility I will demonstrate the way class relationships impinge on individual lives.

Using a voluntaristic theory of action and Buckley’s (1967) paradigm of complex adaptive systems, explanation of the process of change in organisations is attempted. The specific question addressed is why some changes, rather than others, are incorporated into organisational arrangements. This thesis has three parts. The first is a theoretical statement of Buckley’s model and an argument for the extension of this scheme in two important respects. The second is an extended case study of a psychiatric ward of a general hospital to which the model is applied. The third is a theoretical re-statement of the original paradigm in the light of this application. Buckley’s model was used to identify: 1. The external and internal variety which may affect an organisation 2. The tension-producing factors within the organisational arrangement which constrain actor’s choice of response to variety 3. The processes whereby actors selectively map responses to variety 4. The processes for the transmission and perpetuation of stable accommodations to variety. Two adaptations were made initially to Buckley’s scheme. To explain more fully the process of ‘mapping’ ((3) above), two constructs are proposed, derived from the concept of the phenomenal ‘self’. These are ‘meaning system’ and ‘dramatic repertoire of self-presentation’. Inclusion of Koestlers’ (1967) concept of the open-ended hierarchy of awareness is suggested as a theoretical solution to the problem of homeostasis ((4) above) in systems of action. Argument for the use of an open systems approach in general, and Buckley’s paradigm in particular, together with the proposed amendments of Buckley’s scheme is presented in Chapters I and II. The case study is presented in Chapters III-VIII. Chapter III is a review of the historical factors which provide the context for the study, while changes occurring in the nursing, medical and non-medical sub-systems are discussed in turn, in Chapters, IV, V and VI respectively. Chapter VII identifies four scenes of social encounter in the ward and discusses the process of interaction occurring in each. Chapter VIII is an epilogue which examines briefly the outcome of events mentioned in the earlier chapters. Chapter IX is a statement of the conclusions drawn from the case study. The value of Buckley’s paradigm in the construction of an extended case study is demonstrated and the importance of the concepts of ‘mapping’ and ‘perpetuation’ is highlighted because they permit explanation of macrosocial processes which remain fully within the social context and point to the importance of identifying the dramatisation of power in social encounters. The initial harnessing of action theory and systems theory concepts was found to be too limited. A theoretical solution is, therefore, proposed in Chapter X which is capable of explaining system elaboration in the two dimensions of ‘organisation’ and ‘self’. The model takes into account the dialectic tensions existing between ‘self/organisation’ and ‘stability/change’, and differentiates between evolutionary and revolutionary change, making explicit both the constitutive processes of interaction and the interplay of forces affecting the individual and social order.

This thesis considers the 'spirits of governing' that currently frame youth justice approaches to Samoan youth offending in New Zealand, today. It claims that, in the current management of Samoan youth offending cases, three main spirits of governing are in play. These are the spirits of neo-liberal risk management cultural appropriateness, and faaSamoa. All three spirits operate simultaneously, in multilayered and intersecting ways. Gaining insight into this complexity is critical to building an understanding of the points of tension that may arise in the operationalisation of 'culturally appropriate' youth justice policies in the case of Samoan youth offenders. To highlight the complex character of these spirits of governing and their relationships, the thesis first describes each spirit of governing and then considers how they compete, intersect and/or diverge through a close analysis of seven youth justice cases. Analysis of each of the seven cases is based on interviews with a Samoan youth offender, a family representative, their CYFS social worker, police youth aid officer, Youth Court youth advocate and a community intervention programme worker. The key sites of government examined in this work are those of the family, the Youth Court, the youth justice family group conference and a community intervention programme service. The thesis reveals that to gain nuanced understanding of the complexities of managing a Samoan youth offender case, it is not simply a question of knowing what 'spirits of governing' are at play, one also needs to examine how they play. I contend that these three 'spirits' have specific relationships with each other. In youth justice, neo-liberalism opened up space for cultural appropriateness which, in turn allowed for the circulation of the faaSamoa. These three 'spirits', however, can not be reduced to each other because of their differing understanding of governmental strategies, techniques and subjects. In particular, they differ on their understanding of the role of families, of collaboration and of cultural expertise. Consequently, for example, while these three 'spirits of governing' 'agree' on the value of cultural appropriateness, they do not 'agree' on how it should be defined and measured. Too often when politically sensitive programmes or policies, such as those involving ethnic-specific cases, do not work, the response from politicians and programme personnel alike is to couch their failures in overly simplistic terms. This work seeks to indicate the importance of developing culturally nuanced models of analysis that can engage in the complexities of governing across cultural divides, in the improvement of practice in the field and in the development of a sociology capable of enhancing cross-cultural understanding.

This thesis looks at the way the historical oppression of women in capitalist society is reproduced through a continuing gender division of labour at home and in the workplace. Women's primary responsibility for domestic labour in the home both defines and disadvantages them in the labour market. I argue that changing women's inferior status under capitalism depends on women organising for equality in the labour market. I develop the argument around women's status by looking at the way state activity shaped the conditions for social reproduction in the post-war period of capitalist growth followed by the onset of economic decline and state restructuring in New Zealand. I take a classical Marxist political economy approach to explain the end of the post-war boom as a 'structural crisis' of falling profits requiring the state to act for capital by establishing the conditions for the market to 'restructure' production to restore the conditions for profitability. The thesis focuses on the reduction of state welfare provision which impacted on women both as domestic labourers and wage labourers. These measures generated opposition. First, government's proposal for domestic purpose beneficiaries to undertake 'workfare' signaled a (failed) attempt to propel these women into work as a reserve army of labour and out of their primary role as domestic labourers supported by the state. Second, reducing state spending on the 'social wage' impacted directly on women workers in state sector areas of education and health. I interviewed women teachers who were active in their unions in resisting the pressures of reform and defending their jobs. The most politically conscious teachers were Marxists who agitated to advance workers from a trade union consciousness to a class consciousness. They understood that the union struggle was a class struggle of workers against a capitalist class on the offensive. They challenged union bureaucrats in accommodating to this. In their interventions, these women demonstrated the possibilities for overcoming gender inequality not through separatist strategies or liberal reforms that leave capitalist structures intact but through the transformative potential of union struggle for the 'socialist project'.