Strengthening Rural Families

Researchers spoke to many families living in the small Westland communities of Hari Hari and Whataroa to create 12 'stories' that were representative of families living there.

The study built up a picture of how these families developed social connections within the community and used them to help themselves and others.

Rural community researchers are increasingly interested in the degree to which aspects of social organisation and local ‘culture’ have a bearing on social outcomes. The rapidly expanding body of literature in this area has drawn on the work of Robert Putnam (1993) among others. Putnam contended that social wellbeing depends on the quality of community social structure and organisation, or social capital.

Civic participation, reciprocity between individuals and groups, social networks, kin and non-kin ties, leadership and sufficient trust to enable individuals to act collectively for a shared objective, have all been identified as measures of social capital.

‘Social capital’ is not a new concept in New Zealand’s public policy discourse. To date, however, most of the discussion has been focused at the national level. Almost all of the measures used to define social capital have been established to meet the statistically robust methodologies of agencies such as Statistics New Zealand or for the purpose of national-level policy formation. While this approach has considerable merit, we suggest that statistical frameworks offer only partial answers when investigating regional and localised responses.

Using mainly ethnographic techniques, this project has used a social capital perspective to understand how rural families adjust to changes in the social and economic landscape. We have sought to understand how rural families participate in the accumulation and utilisation of social capital in their communities to bring about balance between paid work, community commitments and family life.

To meet this broader aim we have explored two specific objectives: Firstly, we examine the relationship between family and community, in order to understand how rural families draw upon, and contribute to, stocks of social capital. To do this, we have conceptualised families as ‘units’ and have investigated the contribution of social
networks, civic participation, voluntary engagements and various other formal and informal arrangements to their social wellbeing. Our focus of analysis is the interchange between family and community rather than within the family unit.

The second objective, which directly builds upon the first, was to examine rural family wellbeing in the context of change in industry. Industry and policy changes have brought job losses in one sector and rapid expansion in others, creating personal and collective dilemmas for some rural families. This changing economic and social landscape, and the dilemmas families and communities are facing, form the backdrop against which we have examined ‘social capital in operation’.

Combined, these objectives provided us with the opportunity to explore some of the mechanisms, approaches and strategies used by families to achieve balance between paid work, community commitments and family life in an environment of industry change.

Although some scene-setting material from Statistics New Zealand is incorporated into the report, the data that mainly enables us to address the above issues are contained in stories obtained from 12 South Westland families, using a sequence of unstructured and semistructured interviews.

Several key themes emerged from the families’ stories regarding how they have responded to change and the role of social capital in facilitating this response:

• Families’ sense of attachment to community: The capacity to build networks and social arrangements that facilitate participation in the generation of social capital grew for families as they developed their own sense of attachment and belonging to place.The importance of social networks in supporting families: The social networks and ties developed by families have been shown to be a critical asset for accessing the social and physical resources that promote family wellbeing.The social norms of trust and reciprocity: Trust, as a precursor to reciprocity, has allowed families to support others, and be supported by others. Apparent in many ways, from the social monitoring of children to the levels of trust demonstrated toward others in the community, high levels of trust and reciprocity have enabled families to ‘get ahead’ in the context of significant change.
• Balancing work, family life and community participation: In the face of changing social and economic circumstances, families indicate
• the necessity of working actively to achieve more balance between these aspects of their daily lives. One strategy for finding this balance is prioritising the allocation of time. In particular, the alignment of family and community commitments and the picking up by women of many family contributions and obligations have helped in finding this balance.

As public policy continues to debate social capital, we would suggest that this study provides useful lessons for agencies attempting to facilitate social capital at the local level. The social responses observed highlight the importance of local initiative and control of the processes required to amass social capital.

Conversely, attempting to create social capital through policy directives has limitations. As a resource of the collective, social capital is expressed in the everyday lives of individuals, families and communities. Hence, at best, policy directives can facilitate access to resources, by fostering bridging opportunities and providing financial and technical or advisory support. In the interest of family wellbeing, such support should necessarily come with ‘no strings attached’. The level of self-determination afforded to the community is likely to be critical in the success of any external initiative to assist in the generation and maintenance of social capital. Furthermore, agencies taking approaches that embrace the norms inherent in social capital itself, such as trust, reciprocity and mutuality, will be better able to take the community along with them. In their absence, the direct involvement of the apparatus of government is likely to be totally counter-productive to the establishment and facilitation of enduring social capital.