The human experience of restructuring : Reefton, 1984-1994

This thesis examines the impact of recent restructuring on Reefton, a small town on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. At the local level, the restructuring of the 1980s has significantly reshaped the ensembles of economic, social and political relations which characterised New Zealand localities in the post-war boom. Despite this, there has been little research on the impacts of restructuring upon people and places in New Zealand. This research is a response to this lack of knowledge. In order to make sense of recent local change an conception of restructuring which recognises its nature and ultimate origin is necessary. The conceptions of restructuring found within new Right politics and neo-classical economics, which form the dominant discourse of restructuring, are inadequate for this purpose. In this, restructuring is seen as a state initiated, national scale and primarily economic 'solution' to the problems induced by the interventionism of the long boom. A political economy approach, which recognises that crisis is an inherent and historically recurrent feature of the capitalist mode of production, is adopted as a critical alternative. In this, restructuring is seen as the efforts of capital, labour and the state in times of capitalist crisis to discover new configurations which permit a continued accumulation of surplus. · Within this broad understanding, a conceptuaiisation of restructuring in which people, places and work are central is developed. This recognises the origins of restructuring lie in the global capitalist economy, but focuses on its local impact. It draws on recent work which applies David Harvey's concept of structured coherence to places, and develops the notion of an employment trajectory as a way to explore the human experience of local restructuring. The framework outlines what needs to be investigated to make sense of recent change. Each of the elements within it are subsequently discussed. The interplay of the New Zealand and global economy during the long boom is examined as the spatio-temporal domain of most importance in understanding recent restructuring. This is complemented by a discussion of the local history and geography of Reefton, both before and through the long boom. Attention is then given to the impact of restructuring within the local economy and society, with a particular focus on changes in public and private sector workplaces, and the experience of the employees of the restructured workplaces. Five broadly different employment trajectories are found to have emerged in the post-restructuring period, and the experience of individuals within these trajectories are examined. It is concluded that the human experience of restructuring is characterized by diversity. The nature of this diversity suggests that the dominant conceptions of people and place during restructuring require reformulation. A sensitivity to the human experience of restructuring in places is required