Includes bibliographical references (pages 291-320) and index.

Part 1. FOUNDATIONS: STATE AND NATION -- 1. Plunder in the Promised Land: Māori Land Alienation and the Genesis of Capitalism in Aotearoa New Zealand -- Matt Wynyard -- 2. Rangatiratanga, Kāwanatanga and the Constitution -- Ranginui Walker -- 3. We're All in This Together? Democracy and Politics in Aotearoa New Zealand -- Richard Shaw -- 4. Imagining Aotearoa New Zealand: The Politics of National Imagining -- Avril Bell -- Part 11. NEW ZEALAND PEOPLES -- 5. Ka Pū Te Ruha, Ka Hao Te Rangatahi: Māori Identities in the Twenty-first Century -- Tahu Kukutai -- Melinda Webber -- 6. Pākehā Ethnicity: The Politics of White Privilege -- Steve Matthewman -- 7. Deconstructing the Big Brown Tail/Tales: Pasifika Peoples in Aotearoa New Zealand -- Karlo Mila -- 8. The Asianisation of Aotearoa: Immigration Impacts -- Paul Spoonley -- Part 111. 9. The land of Me and Money? New Zealand Society under Neoliberalism -- Louise Humpage -- 10. Rich and Poor: Class Division in Aotearoa New Zealand -- Bruce Curtis -- Marko Galic -- 11. Poverty in a Land of Plenty: The Poor Will Always Be With Us -- Kellie McNeill -- 12. Social Mobility in Aotearoa New Zealand in the Neoliberal Era: Increasing or Decreasing? -- Gerry Cotterell -- Part IV. GENDERS AND SEXUALITIES -- 13. We Still Need Feminism in Aotearoa: The Achievements and Unfinished Tasks of the Women's Movement -- Julia Schuster -- 14. Homosexuality in Aotearoa New Zealand: Regulation and Resistance -- Johanna Schmidt -- 15. Man-Up? A Socio-historical Examination of Pākeha and Maori Masculinities -- Richard Pringle -- 16. gender Inequalities Are a Thing of the Past. Yeah, right! Vivienne Elizabeth -- Part V. CONTEMPORARY ISSUES AND DIVIDES -- 17. Ageing Well? Social Support and Inequalities for Older New Zealanders -- Ngaire Kerse -- 18. No Promised land: Domestic Violence, Marginalisation and Masculinity -- Vivienne Elaizabeth -- 19. Locked Up: Incarceration in Aotearoa New Zealand -- Tracey McIntosh -- Bartek Goldman -- 20. The Urban(e) and the Metro-rural in Aotearoa -- Peter J. Howland -- 21. Clean, Green Aotearoa New Zealand? -- Corrina Tucker -- .

Since colonisation New Zealand has been mythologised as a land of milk and honey, a promised land of natural abundance and endless opportunity. In the twenty first century the country has become literally a land of milk and honey as agricultural exports from such commodities dominate the national economy. But does New Zealand live up to its promise? In this introductory textbook for first year sociology students some of this country’s leading social scientists help us to make sense of contemporary New Zealand. In 21 chapters, the authors examine New Zealand’s political identity and constitution, our Māori, Pākehā, Pacific and Asian peoples’ problems of class poverty and inequality, gender and sexualities; and contemporary debates around ageing, incarceration and the environment. The authors find a complex society where thirty years of neoliberal economics and globalising politics have exacerbated inequalities that are differentially experienced by class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and age. These social divides and problems are at the heart of this text. For sociology students and for a wider audience of New Zealanders, ‘A Land of Milk and Honey?’ is a lively introduction to where we have come from, where we are now and where New Zealand society might be headed. (From the back cover). Record #5825