Premium
Radical change or more of the same? Public attitudes towards social citizenship in New Zealand since neoliberal reform
Author(s) -
Humpage Louise
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
australian journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1839-4655
pISSN - 0157-6321
DOI - 10.1002/j.1839-4655.2008.tb00099.x
Subject(s) - citizenship , ambivalence , protectionism , state (computer science) , welfare reform , neoliberalism (international relations) , welfare state , political science , public opinion , political economy , social rights , social citizenship , project commissioning , public administration , social policy , sociology , publishing , welfare , human rights , law , economics , politics , social psychology , psychology , algorithm , international trade , computer science
International empirical evidence, including that from Australia, suggests that neoliberal reform has not changed public attitudes towards the social rights of citizenship as much as one might predict. But do these international findings hold true for New Zealand, whose institutions were more rapidly transformed by neoliberal reform than similar countries? Drawing upon public opinion data regarding economic protectionism and the welfare state over the past two decades, this paper argues that while some significant changes have emerged there is no overwhelming evidence of a paradigmatic shift in public attitudes towards social citizenship rights as a result of New Zealand's neoliberal reform. Indeed, New Zealand's experience appears as ambiguous and ambivalent as that of Australia, albeit different policy and historical settings have produced some differences in public attitudes.