Angela T. Ragusa

Seeking Trees or Escaping Traffic? Socio-Cultural Factors and ‘Tree-Change’ Migration in Australia

Tree-changers, those who move from the city to inland country areas principally for ‘lifestyle reasons’, are a newly identified social group in contemporary and popular Australian culture whom are affecting demographic change in Australia’s country towns. This chapter presents images of tree-changers found in Australian news media and findings from 28 qualitative, in-depth interviews conducted in 2007–2008 with tree-changers who moved to rural New South Wales and northern Victoria to addresses a knowledge gap about why individuals are leaving Australia’s cities for the country. Prior migration research has been largely geographic and produced location-specific, aggregate data on Australia’s inter- and intra-metropolitan population migration trends explained by life-cycle. In contrast, this sociological study examines the inherently socially-derived factors, beyond age, which contribute to urban-rural migration. Findings reveal urban stresses (traffic, commuting and high population density) are key ‘push’ factors and stereotypical expectations that country life is less stressful, more spacious, and less expensive are key attractants. Data failed to support perceptions that tree-changers expect city-quality amenities, found most did not relocate for cheaper real estate and the majority moved to suburban homes in country towns, not ‘the Bush’. Unanticipated realities of country life (i.e., more commuting and higher living expenses) show discrepancy exists between urban-rural migrants’ expectations and experiences.

IPODS AREN'T JUST FOR TUNES: Exploring podcasting as a socio-cultural technology facilitating student experiences of higher education in rural Australia

New communication technologies are bringing about social, as well as technical, changes in learning environments. This study explores the impact one new communication technology, podcasting, has had on students’ educational experiences at a rural Australian university. Contextualized in a broader social environment, where it is critically theorized that institutions of higher education sell knowledge as a commercial good, this study uses qualitative survey data of distant and internal student experiences to present student expectations and cultural norms. Findings reveal that the majority of student comments reflect support for podcasting as a learning tool and as a means to personalize distance education which for some, and particularly rural students, can be an isolating experience. Additionally, commentary reflects that education in an increasing commodified culture brings heightened consumer expectations for equity in educational experience and delivery services, as well as student-driven assessment of educational products’ quality and authenticity.

Social change and the corporate construction of gay markets in the New York Times’ advertising business news

Analysis of a random sample of New York Times’ advertising business news articles reveals change in the perception and pursuit of sexual minorities - gays, lesbians, bisexuals and trans-persons (GLBTs) - as consumers of mainstream products between 1980 and 2000. Critical analysis identified three trends: corporate shunning; corporate curiosity and fear; corporate pursuit. Social representation, cultural norms, stereotypes and visibility were explored for each trend, revealing qualitative and quantitative inequality among social groups. Although all GLBTs experienced increased news coverage, gay men received twice the coverage of lesbians. Advertisers and the Times changed from stigmatizing and avoiding homosexuals to promoting stereotypes of gay affluence, creating ‘controversial’ ad campaigns with ‘shock value’, commodifying social identity and establishing a gay market niche. Representations reflect homogenized understandings of sexuality, with bisexuals and trans-persons invisible. Case studies demonstrate the Times’ contribution to norms, values and beliefs characterizing GLBTs, supporting research characterizing the media an active agent shaping cultural production of sexuality. Visibility is argued not to have granted social legitimation but to evidence social change in the status of homosexuality from deviant/stigmatized to selectively commodified and spectacularized.

Rural Australian Women’s Legal Help Seeking for Intimate Partner Violence: Women Intimate Partner Violence Victim Survivors’ Perceptions of Criminal Justice Support Services

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a widespread, ongoing, and complex global social problem, whose victims continue to be largely women. Women often prefer to rely on friends and family for IPV help, yet when informal support is unavailable they remain hesitant to contact formal services, particularly legal support for many reasons. This study applies a sociological lens by framing the IPV and legal help-seeking experiences of rural Australian women gained from 36 in-depth face-to-face interviews as socially contextualized interactions. Findings reveal police and court responses reflect broader social inequalities and rurality exacerbates concerns such as anonymity and lack of service. Cultural differences and power imbalances between survivors and formal support providers are manifested to inform future research seeking to improve survivors’ willingness to engage and satisfaction with formal services. Finally, the important role police and the criminal justice system play in de-stigmatizing IPV and legitimating its unacceptability is argued a crucial, yet unrecognized, key to social change.

Realities of Mental Health Nursing Practice in Rural Australia

Mental health nursing as a distinct speciality has been in decline in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, for two decades. Arguably, this decline has worsened both consumer outcomes and the workplace experiences of mental health nurses. This article reports on a study designed to ascertain the nature of contemporary mental health nursing practice in New South Wales. The study utilised focus group research methodology, with participants recounting the realities of their day-to-day professional practice and perceptions of their professional identity. The findings indicate a contracting, if not moribund, profession; a decrease in the value attached to mental health nursing; and a pattern of persistent underfunding by successive governments of mental health services. An analysis of present and historical trends reveals there is a pressing need for a restructure and re-formation of mental health nursing in rural areas. This article links the shortage of mental health nurses in NSW to the closure of the mental health nursing register, a shift to comprehensive/generalist nurse education models, a perceived lack of nurses’ professional standing, and natural attrition without suitably qualified replacements. Mental health nurses in this study perceived that they were not valued by other health professionals or by their own managers. Participants in this study reported mental health nursing in rural areas was an unattractive career choice. These findings are important to the understanding of recruitment and retention issues in rural mental health nursing in Australia.Mental health nursing as a distinct speciality has been in decline in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, for two decades. Arguably, this decline has worsened both consumer outcomes and the workplace experiences of mental health nurses. This article reports on a study designed to ascertain the nature of contemporary mental health nursing practice in New South Wales. The study utilised focus group research methodology, with participants recounting the realities of their day-to-day professional practice and perceptions of their professional identity. The findings indicate a contracting, if not moribund, profession; a decrease in the value attached to mental health nursing; and a pattern of persistent underfunding by successive governments of mental health services. An analysis of present and historical trends reveals there is a pressing need for a restructure and re-formation of mental health nursing in rural areas. This article links the shortage of mental health nurses in NSW to the closure of the mental he...

Sex Outside the City: Sex Work in Rural and Regional New South Wales

Abstract During the last decade ‘prostitution’ has been characterised as a ‘social problem’ throughout rural and regional New South Wales. As we show here, the urban-centric nature of popular and official discourses of prostitution have inadvertently allowed for the development of regulatory positions which have negatively impacted sex workers in rural and regional communities and lead to conflict among sectors of the rural sex industry and between the sex industry and community activists. In addition to examining the problematisation of sex work in rural New South Wales, this paper sets out to understand why rural sex work has historically lacked visibility in popular and scholarly discourses. We provide an overview of the distinctive organisational aspects of the sex industry in rural contexts. Evidence for our assertions is largely derived from primary interview data collected from sex industry workers based in rural New South Wales. The paper represents the first attempt in the research literature on prostitution to understand sex work as a rural phenomenon.

‘I think it is the best job … I love it!’ Engendering workplace satisfaction in rural and remote Australian mental health nursing

Abstract Mental health nursing in New South Wales, Australia has experienced considerable change as a profession over the past 20 years. In a climate of reduced funding and heightened service need, rural and remote geographies continue to affect workplace environments and experiences. This article presents qualitative focus group data to identify what workplace strategies and experiences mental health nurses working in rural and remote communities used in their day-to-day practices. Findings demonstrate socially patterned working conditions and experiences consistent with national and international research outcomes, specifically that emotional and physical resilience is required to survive and thrive as a mental health professional. Specific workplace experiences reveal three key themes (workplace culture; professional pride; rewards, people and places) which characterise participants’ perceptions and overall work satisfaction. Examples from each of these themes are presented to illustrate what contributed or detracted from individual mental health nurses’ overall perception of their workplaces, and particularly such positive feelings as, ‘I love my job’. From consideration of these experiences, greater insight into the profession may be gained that fosters policies and practices to address ongoing issues of low retention and high turnover rates.

Policy implications of gay men's workplace experiences: public service employees in Australia's capital, Canberra

In 2008, changes in Australian federal legislation commenced the removal of workplace policies that historically discriminated against non-heterosexual employees. Academic research, however, reveals that much workplace discrimination is covert. To examine perceptions of covert workplace discrimination, experiences of gay men employed in the public service in the Australian Capital Territory in Canberra were investigated using semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Qualitative thematic analysis revealed a range of workplace experiences by gay male employees including perceived positive cultural change and continued sexuality-based discrimination. Participants’ workplace experiences included perceived general acceptance of homosexuality as well as workplace cliques and discrimination in specific instances. These perceptions occurred despite official changes in workplace legislation and the unanimous existence of employment opportunity, anti-discrimination and/or anti-bullying or harassment policies. This research advocates the need to prioritise identifying, managing and reviewing existing workplace policies and practices that fail to include covert sexuality-based discrimination as a means to improve workplace dynamics for all employees, thereby reducing social inequality.

A sociological analysis of Australia’s NAPLAN and My School Senate Inquiry submissions: the adultification of childhood?

Growing consensus in popular and academic commentary suggests the lived reality of Western childhood differs considerably from its dominant cultural construction as an innocent period free from adult responsibilities. Sociologically, this disjuncture is conceptualised as adultification. Adopting a critical theoretical lens, we question if Australian high-stakes standardised testing and reporting, National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) and My School, evidences adultification of childhood experience in primary and secondary schools. Qualitative critical analysis of 270 submissions to NAPLAN’s 2010 Senate Inquiry demonstrates adultification in Australian schools, with children subjected to developmentally inappropriate expectations, pressure, stress and precocious knowledge in response to NAPLAN testing and reporting. Adultification, we argue, is a side-effect of individualisation, managerialism and neo-liberal government policy played out in Australian schools and exposing children to the harsh realities of political, economic and social life. De-politicalisation and de-marketisation of children is argued as urgently needed to foreground a critically considered ‘best practice’ when promoting or measuring educational progress and performance.

‘It’s not the test, it’s how it’s used!’ Critical analysis of public response to NAPLAN and MySchool Senate Inquiry

Public education is commonly perceived as a social good endowed with the capacity to equalise western citizens’ chance of ‘success’. In 2008 Australia introduced standardised testing and reporting procedures to improve educational quality and equity through two policy tools (NAPLAN/MySchool). Ensuing public debate culminated in two Senate Inquiries. Qualitative critical analysis of all (N = 268) submissions to Inquiry One evidenced two major themes: marketisation and data (mis)use; and competition, commodification and practice. Marketisation’s hegemony shaped discourse and recommendations, with institutions and individuals promoting/engaging in self-aggrandising performance-driven activities seeking market advantage, often whilst simultaneously objecting. Submissions largely opposed MySchool and supported NAPLAN despite detailing maladaptive impacts and recommending changes. Drawing upon Latour, we suggest actors’ interactions with these tools (re)produced and re-enacted marketisation principles. Where marketisation, commodification or political rhetoric drives educational change, one ought to be cautious authentic approaches are not truncated by stakeholders lacking legitimate means to compete for resources or social status.