An accidental utopia?

the long version

The First Systematic Analysis over time of urban social structure in New Zealand, and of marital, worklife and intergenerational mobility, this book investigates a more egalitarian past, through the lens of southern Dunedin between 1890 and 1940. While class is their central focus, the authors also explore how religious and ethnic divisions were rendered more marginal than in similar communities in urban Britain or the United States. The final chapter asks to what extent the remarkably fluid social patterns in southern Dunedin resulted from deliberate choices made by the first settlers and their descendants. Certainly egalitarian tendencies and various forms of mobility came together there to create a special place, both in the character of local society and in its contribution to making New Zealand a laboratory for social reform' in the 1890's and again in the 1930's. By interweaving class and culture, structure and agency, the authors provide new insights into the making of modern New Zealand. --Book Jacket.