School of Social and Political Sciences - Theses
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ItemJohn Cain and Victorian Labor 1917-1957( 1979)This thesis is partly a study of the Victorian Labor party's parliamentary performance, partly of the party's organizational wing, and to lesser extent it examines relations between the state Executive and the Trades Hall Council. This thesis is also the study of one man, John Cain, Victoria’s only really successful Labor leader. From an Irish, Catholic rural background, he joined the Victorian Socialist party and by 1917 won the state seat of Jika Jika (later Northcote). An earnest parliamentarian with good political and administrative skills, he fought his way to the Labor leadership by 1937 and was eventually Premier for three terms -1943. 1945-1947, and 1952-1955. He dies in 1957. (From synopsis)
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ItemVoting in Australian State and Federal elections 1937-1961( 1966)The main aim of this work has been to compare voting in elections for the lower Houses of the State and Federal Parliaments and to illustrate the complications of federalism. In so doing, I have also been concerned to examine the effects of different electoral systems at the two levels of government, (particularly the different methods of weighting used in the various states) and to look at the working of those distinctively Australian features – compulsory and preferential voting. Though the title of the thesis is limited to the period 1937 to 1961 this has not been strictly adhered to. It has been found convenient to extend comparisons by including the state elections in Western Australia of 1936 and in New South Wales of 1962. There are great problems in the handling and comparison of electoral statistics : Uncontested seats, changes due to redistributions of electoral boundaries and the identification of party affiliations of candidates are among the most obvious. On many occasions, and particularly in attempts to assess the under- or over-representation of parties, I have used adjusted election figures including allowances for uncontested seats and seats not contested by two major parties. Any such adjustments are necessarily arbitrary, but I have endeavoured to make clear when adjusted figures were being used and , where necessary, to indicate the limited nature of the material available. For some state elections the figures are far more “usable” than for others so I have done what seemed possible in the light of the material. This has made for a good deal of unevenness. No attempt has been made to treat each state uniformly. Though Victoria and New South Wales have been studied in most detail, even here different aspects have been stressed. Dissident party groups and candidates have been more fully treated in New South Wales. In Victoria the longer periods between redistributions and the recent “tow-for-one” system of electoral boundaries has made a more detailed comparison of voting at state and federal elections possible. The study has been limited to elections for the Commonwealth Parliament and the lower Houses of the State Parliaments. Since the interest has largely centred on the working of single-member electorate systems there has been no detailed discussion of the methods used to elect The Tasmanian House of Assembly or the Commonwealth Senate, though some analysis of voting for both these bodies has been included. (From Introduction).
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ItemE. G. Whitlam: an essay in political biography( 1979)Few of society’s members enter political life, and only a fraction of these become leaders. These are, then, uncommon men, and an understanding of their experience is not readily accessible to most of us. The politically interested may turn to political and historical biography to bridge the gap, yet the ad hoc and intuitive nature of most biographical work counts against its acceptance as a contribution to political science. This essay argues that for biography to be understood as integral to the discipline its methods must be such as to allow for comparison between studies of like and unlike political actors, and for generalization and prediction on the basis of a range of cases. A biography needs a systematic conceptual framework by which its subject can be understood, and whose principles are available to the reader for consideration (and potential refutation) in the course of analysis. Since it is impossible to retail the "complete" life, such a framework will suggest a means of selection from the mass of detail, facilitating the work of explanation. The logical theoretical tools for this can be found in modern theories of personality. The subject of this essay in biography is E. G. Whitlam, 22nd Prime Minister of Australia. His unusual career, and the disparate accounts of the man to which it gave rise, epitomize our difficulty in coming to terms with leadership. Yet the enigma is more apparent than real, and a judicious interpretation of the life may dissolve the paradox and explain both functional and dysfunctional elements of character (evident in the antithetical strains in the career) as manifestations of a recognizable personality type. The groundwork of biography consists of isolating behavioural patterns which signify the idiosyncracies of personality. This essay proceeds first to establish the characteristics of behaviour across the whole life by scanning it chronologically. From this it turns to close consideration of the political career and in particular the style of work of its subject. It then attends to political orientations and philosophy before turning to the examination of language and habits of thought. The process is one of hewing ever closer to the inner man, passing from the activity of the public figure to the detail of working style, and at last to the uniquely individual operations of the mind. Patterns thus elicited are considered in the light of a number of theories of personality. This is an iterative process of devising successive approximations until the interpretation best suited to understanding Whitlam is established. As a means of testing and elaborating conclusions thus derived, the early life history is examined and the antecedents of adult personality sought. In the light of the interpretation established here, it is demonstrated that we can understand both the strengths and weaknesses, the successes and failures, of Whitlam as a political leader. Concluding remarks are devoted to what might be expected of other similar leaders. The attractions of such a leader for his followers, the circumstances in which such a pattern of leadership can be of political utility and cultural value, and the attendant dangers, are suggested.
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ItemWork, industry and control( 1978)This research project set out to explore in detail the work milieux of the skilled industrial worker, to examine work through the eyes and experience of the workman himself. Although an eclectic approach was employed in the gathering of the material for this thesis, the research was centred around two distinct methodological procedures: participant observation and in-depth interviewing. As a participant observer, I worked as a labourer in the Whyalla Shipyard which enabled me to experience work and its associated authority relationships first hand and to gain the trust of a group of employees who were later extensively interviewed. A semi-structured questionnaire was employed to enquire into worker’s leisure activities, social networks, financial position, personal background, class images, attitudes towards work and general social and political orientations. Endeavouring not to lose sight of the depth of the social processes implicit in the workman’s world of meaning, questioning procedures frequently approached the informality of ordinary conservations. My research revealed a disturbing lack of awareness, by unions, employers, government authorities and the courts, of the deleterious physical, sociological and psychological effects which accompany certain types of industrial employment. Working in close liaison with federal and state government instrumentalities, I was able to uncover significant discrepancies and inadequacies in the present industrial safety and workman’s compensation legislation. The Whyalla project, revealed an unexpectedly high incidence of work-associated physical disabilities and industrial diseased, and it is hoped that these findings will contribute to the review and general tightening-up of some of the South Australian statutes. ‘Work, industry and control’ demonstrates how industrial workmen can come to regard themselves to be trapped within a complex web of interlocking mechanisms of social and political control. Furthermore, it seeks to uncover some of the effects that elitist and authoritarian managerial policies and obsessive over-supervision can have on the morals, skills, and self-concept of craftsmen, and relates these to Lockwood’s concept of privatisation.