The collective voice, where to now? : two depressions

Abstract

This research compares the unemployed movements of two depressions, the 1930s and the 1980s and early 1990s. The research focused on Christchurch and Dunedin. The basic research question was whether the unemployed of these two historical periods engaged in the same type of collective action. There was a suggestion that the intervening period had seen a change in the nature of class relationships. This implied that differences would exist between the unemployed of the two eras. In the arena of social movements, Alain Touraine provided a theory that asserted that a fundamental societal shift had occurred. Emerging from industrial society was a post-industrial society. Instead of the dominant class monopolising the 'means of production' in the traditional sense, the new mode of production was knowledge based. This mode of production was used to increasingly dominate 'civil' society. Therefore the sub-ordinated class was the citizen rather than the traditional worker. New conflicts were more likely to occur around cultural issues rather than the more narrowly defined economic and political issues of industrial society. Document research was used to examine the 1930s unemployed movement while interviews were conducted with unemployed activists from the current movement. The findings describe a hierarchical 1930s unemployed movement that was orientated towards the labour movement. The movement was concerned with economic problems and was involved primarily with redistributive conflict. This was the expected form of an industrial society social movement. In comparison, the latter movement was small and isolated from the mass of the unemployed. The movement did not want to join with political parties or labour organisations. The activists were concerned with the construction of alternative ways of living and were opposed to bureaucracy and hierarchy. While economic and social differences between the two eras account for some of the observed differences, the findings lend support for Touraine' s assertion of a shift from an industrial to a post-industrial society.