title: Hamilton Parents Centre 1957-2003: A sociological history

authors: Morgans, Blair

subjects: sociological history

abstract: This is a "sociological history" of Hamilton Parents Centre and as such presents the stories' of Hamilton Parents Centre organised both chronologically and thematically. These stories are broadly of two kinds: those represented in words and pictures in the archive materials made available to us by Hamilton Parents Centre, and those shared with us this year in individual and group interviews by (mostly) women who in the past were or at present are involved with Parents Centre (and in some instances with the Federation of New Zealand Parents Centres). This sociological history is also a case study, and we believe it is a "normal" or "typical" case'. Hamilton Parents Centre can be regarded as a single entity, one of a number of such specific entities (the other Parents Centres) and more generally one of a much larger number of entities, voluntary community-based social service and advocacy organisations . We argue that Hamilton has, over the life of Hamilton Parents Centre, been reasonably representative of New Zealand communities, of urban New Zealand which is and has for a long while been the demographically predominant New Zealand. We also take the view that Hamilton Parents Centre stands for a particular kind of organisation of great importance to the history and development of the human services sector here in New Zealand: community-based, staffed largely by volunteers (but not necessarily thereby amateurs), largely self-funded, identifying new or neglected needs, developing new services, welcoming and being assisted by appropriate professionals but not unduly beholden to them, implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) criticising the status quo-- but a too extensive description here of this sector would anticipate the stories we have to tell .

text: Hamilton Parents Centre 1957-2003: A sociological history This is a "sociological history" of Hamilton Parents Centre and as such presents the stories' of Hamilton Parents Centre organised both chronologically and thematically. These stories are broadly of two kinds: those represented in words and pictures in the archive materials made available to us by Hamilton Parents Centre, and those shared with us this year in individual and group interviews by (mostly) women who in the past were or at present are involved with Parents Centre (and in some instances with the Federation of New Zealand Parents Centres). This sociological history is also a case study, and we believe it is a "normal" or "typical" case'. Hamilton Parents Centre can be regarded as a single entity, one of a number of such specific entities (the other Parents Centres) and more generally one of a much larger number of entities, voluntary community-based social service and advocacy organisations . We argue that Hamilton has, over the life of Hamilton Parents Centre, been reasonably representative of New Zealand communities, of urban New Zealand which is and has for a long while been the demographically predominant New Zealand. We also take the view that Hamilton Parents Centre stands for a particular kind of organisation of great importance to the history and development of the human services sector here in New Zealand: community-based, staffed largely by volunteers (but not necessarily thereby amateurs), largely self-funded, identifying new or neglected needs, developing new services, welcoming and being assisted by appropriate professionals but not unduly beholden to them, implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) criticising the status quo-- but a too extensive description here of this sector would anticipate the stories we have to tell .

year: 2004

title: Functional losses in ground spider communities due to habitat structure degradation under tropical land-use change

authors: Potapov, Anton M.

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: Deforestation and land‐use change in tropical regions result in habitat loss and extinction of species that are unable to adapt to the conditions in agricultural landscapes. If the associated loss of functional diversity is not compensated by species colonizing the converted habitats, extinctions might be followed by a reduction or loss of ecosystem functions including biological control. To date, little is known about how land‐use change in the tropics alters the functional diversity of invertebrate predators and which key environmental factors may mitigate the decline in functional diversity and predation in litter and soil communities. We applied litter sieving and heat extraction to study ground spider communities and assessed structural characteristics of vegetation and parameters of litter in rainforest and agricultural land‐use systems (jungle rubber, rubber, and oil palm monocultures) in a Southeast Asian hotspot of rainforest conversion: Sumatra, Indonesia. We found that (1) spider density, species richness, functional diversity, and community predation (energy flux to spiders) were reduced by 57–98% from rainforest to oil palm monoculture; (2) jungle rubber and rubber monoculture sustained relatively high diversity and predation in ground spiders, but small cryptic spider species strongly declined; (3) high species turnover compensated losses of some functional trait combinations, but did not compensate for the overall loss of functional diversity and predation per unit area; (4) spider diversity was related to habitat structure such as amount of litter, understory density, and understory height, while spider predation was better explained by plant diversity. Management practices that increase habitat‐structural complexity and plant diversity such as mulching, reduced weeding, and intercropping monocultures with other plants may contribute to maintaining functional diversity of and predation services provided by ground invertebrate communities in plantations.

text: Functional losses in ground spider communities due to habitat structure degradation under tropical land-use change Deforestation and land‐use change in tropical regions result in habitat loss and extinction of species that are unable to adapt to the conditions in agricultural landscapes. If the associated loss of functional diversity is not compensated by species colonizing the converted habitats, extinctions might be followed by a reduction or loss of ecosystem functions including biological control. To date, little is known about how land‐use change in the tropics alters the functional diversity of invertebrate predators and which key environmental factors may mitigate the decline in functional diversity and predation in litter and soil communities. We applied litter sieving and heat extraction to study ground spider communities and assessed structural characteristics of vegetation and parameters of litter in rainforest and agricultural land‐use systems (jungle rubber, rubber, and oil palm monocultures) in a Southeast Asian hotspot of rainforest conversion: Sumatra, Indonesia. We found that (1) spider density, species richness, functional diversity, and community predation (energy flux to spiders) were reduced by 57–98% from rainforest to oil palm monoculture; (2) jungle rubber and rubber monoculture sustained relatively high diversity and predation in ground spiders, but small cryptic spider species strongly declined; (3) high species turnover compensated losses of some functional trait combinations, but did not compensate for the overall loss of functional diversity and predation per unit area; (4) spider diversity was related to habitat structure such as amount of litter, understory density, and understory height, while spider predation was better explained by plant diversity. Management practices that increase habitat‐structural complexity and plant diversity such as mulching, reduced weeding, and intercropping monocultures with other plants may contribute to maintaining functional diversity of and predation services provided by ground invertebrate communities in plantations.

year: 2020

title: Social deprivation in New Zealand

authors: Harcourt, Brian James

subjects: Deprivation

abstract: The purpose of the thesis was to better understand the phenomenon of social deprivation, world-wide and in particular in New Zealand. Social deprivation has been defined in many ways with multiple surrogates used to ‘measure’ its prevalence. The aim of this research was to provide examples of the lived experiences of social deprivation.

Social constructivist and interpretive lenses were used to portray the voices of those living in deprivation, as well as those people tasked to assist them. A narrative case study approach was employed with participants from Whānau Ora. This social and health initiative offered a holistic approach to assistance in contrast to the usual State agencies operating in a silo fashion, with separate agencies providing for different aspects of social deprivation such as housing, employment, mental health and other services. The approach of Whānau Ora is to support clients’ needs holistically and encourage people to develop their own plans for self- improvement. Navigators help people develop their plans and assist in their interactions with the various State agencies whose services they require. This approach allowed a better understanding of ways to overcome people’s feelings of powerlessness and desperation.

The findings from the study lead to suggestions for the application of evidence-based, complementary, integrated assistance programmes rather than having segregated public service agencies acting independently. The recommendations are simple yet require profound changes in public service operations when attempting to ameliorate or prevent social deprivation among citizens.

text: Social deprivation in New Zealand The purpose of the thesis was to better understand the phenomenon of social deprivation, world-wide and in particular in New Zealand. Social deprivation has been defined in many ways with multiple surrogates used to ‘measure’ its prevalence. The aim of this research was to provide examples of the lived experiences of social deprivation.

Social constructivist and interpretive lenses were used to portray the voices of those living in deprivation, as well as those people tasked to assist them. A narrative case study approach was employed with participants from Whānau Ora. This social and health initiative offered a holistic approach to assistance in contrast to the usual State agencies operating in a silo fashion, with separate agencies providing for different aspects of social deprivation such as housing, employment, mental health and other services. The approach of Whānau Ora is to support clients’ needs holistically and encourage people to develop their own plans for self- improvement. Navigators help people develop their plans and assist in their interactions with the various State agencies whose services they require. This approach allowed a better understanding of ways to overcome people’s feelings of powerlessness and desperation.

The findings from the study lead to suggestions for the application of evidence-based, complementary, integrated assistance programmes rather than having segregated public service agencies acting independently. The recommendations are simple yet require profound changes in public service operations when attempting to ameliorate or prevent social deprivation among citizens.

year: 2019