A Land of Milk and Honey? ― Making Sense of Aotearoa New Zealand

Since colonization, New Zealand has been mythologized 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 Maori, Pakeha, Pacific and Asian peoples; problems of class, poverty and inequality; gender and sexualities; and contemporary debates around aging, incarceration and the environment. The authors find a complex society where thirty years of neoliberal economics and globalizing 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.

Avril Bell is a Pakeha New Zealander and Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Auckland. Vivienne Elizabeth is a Pakeha New Zealander and Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of Auckland. Tracey McIntosh (Tuhoe) is an Associate Professor in Sociology and Co-Director of Nga Pae o te Maramatanga, New Zealand’s Maori Centre of Research Excellence. Matt Wynyard recently completed a PhD in Sociology at the University of Auckland.