Paul Spoonley

From 1974-1978, Spoonley was Teaching Fellow, Department of Sociology, University of Auckland and part-time Lecturer, School of Architecture and Department of Town Planning, University of Auckland.[1] He began lecturing at Massey University in 1979 and was the College's Research Director and Auckland Regional Director until 2013 when he became Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University's College of Humanities and Social Sciences.[2] He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand[3][4] of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity[5] and of the Auckland War Memorial Museum. In 2010 he was a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the University of California Berkeley where he completed research on second-generation cultural identities of children of American and New Zealand Immigrants.[6][7] In 2019, he stepped down from his position as Pro Vice-Chancellor at Massey University and has reverted to a position as a research professor in the College to allow him to re-focus on writing and research.[8]

The Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) is a nonprofit research institute that works internationally with scholars and focuses on labour economics.[9] Spoonley joined IZA as a Research Fellow in January 2013,[10] and in the same year, worked with Trudie Cain on a discussion paper that explored the importance of immigrant entrepreneurs being embedded in their own social networks but also in the socio-economic and politico-institutional environment of New Zealand as their new country.[11] Superdiversity, social cohesion, and economic benefits (2014) was a paper by Spoonley that summarised key findings of the pros and cons of superdiversity created by increased numbers of immigrants and minority ethnic groups in a culture.[12]

Nga Tangata Oho Mairangi (2014-2021), funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), is a project mapping the regional impacts of demographic and economic change on Auckland and other regions from 1986 to 2013, and to provide projections out to 2038.[13] Spoonley contributed to a literature review on Immigrant Entrepreneurship and Tax Compliance (2013) to clarify the issues around compliance for immigrants in New Zealand,[14] and in 2014, co-authored Temporary Migrants as Vulnerable Workers: A literature review.[15] The review concluded that although more research is needed, there is evidence that in some industries temporary migrant workers are vulnerable in work situations that can be hazardous and in which they may be exploited by their employers.[15] Other research conducted by Spoonley while working with Nga Tangata Oho Mairangi, included Population Change and Its Implications: Auckland (2016),[16] and Population Change and Its Implications: Southland (2017).[17] The purpose of the research was to gather and interpret data to inform discussion about how the areas were managing rapidly growing and changing populations. The data for each of these reports were collected by household interviews, employer surveys and school focus groups.

Capturing the Diversity Dividend of Aotearoa New Zealand (2014-2021) is an MBIE-funded research programme, aimed at identifying how New Zealand can better prepare for changes resulting from demographic challenges including migration, ethnic diversity, population ageing, changing fertility patterns and urban growth.[18] In this project Spoonley worked with Robin Peace and produced the article Social Cohesion and Cohesive Ties: Responses to Diversity [19]

Spoonley participated in the Integration of Immigrants Programme 2007 - 2012, a five-year research initiative funded by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (FRST) to gain a better understanding of the economic integration of immigrants into New Zealand.[20] A document, to which Spoonley contributed, explained that the programme had the "key aim of contributing to progressive improvements in the utilisation of immigrant human capital, to the advantage of migrants specifically and New Zealand society more generally."[21]

B'nai B'rith is an international not-for-profit Jewish community services organisation that supports human rights and anti-discrimination and has a branch in New Zealand.[22] Spoonley, on behalf of B'nai B'rith, was one of a team, including Jim Salinger that completed four surveys of the New Zealand Jewish community, the last one published in 2020.[23]

Right-wing populism, racism and the alt-right became an area of interest to Spoonley while studying at the University of Bristol in 1976. As a result of several incidents involving racist violence that happened close to where he was staying, Spoonley was inspired to become an "academic specialist in Right-wing hate."[24] In 1980 he published an article that showed how the ideology of the National Front, a right-wing group in England was reflected in the keywords of the headlines of their publications. Sixty-six per cent of the items had racial cue words that were linked to "conflict disagreement words" such as "threat" and "invade."[25]

In 2018 Spoonley wrote an article about the history of the alt-right and some of the ideas behind it. He noted that the term applies to a loose coalition of "ultra-nationalists, white supremacists, neo-Nazis and anti-Semites" and first appeared in the United States in 2008, attributed to Richard B. Spencer a neo-Nazi who believed in eugenics and ethnic cleansing to make the United States a white ethno-state. The movement got more exposure in 2016 when Steve Bannon established Breitbart, a right-wing news network.[26]

On the day following the Christchurch mosque shootings (16 March 2019), Spoonley summarised some of his research on the extreme right-wing in New Zealand. He noted that while public surveys such as those conducted annually by The Asia New Zealand Foundation[27] did show a majority of New Zealanders support diversity and see immigration from Asia as being beneficial to the country, "extremist politics, including the extreme nationalist and white supremacist politics that appear to be at the core of this attack on Muslims, have been part of the New Zealand community for a long time."[28] Through the 1980s Spoonley looked at more than 70 groups in New Zealand that held extreme right-wing views with ideologies based on anti-Semitism and the supremacy of the "British race". By the 1990s the internet and social media were playing a role in spreading these ideas and Islamophobia was now supplementing anti-Semitism. In 2018 he conducted a project on hate speech examining what some New Zealanders were saying online and concluded [that] "it did not take long to discover the presence of hateful and anti-Muslim comments."[28] Spoonley later shared with RNZ that the far right in New Zealand was now more technologically sophisticated, connected to international networks and actively trying to get involved in mainstream politics.[29]

Spoonley retired from his position as Pro Vice-Chancellor at Massey University in 2019 to work on a book in which he expressed concerns with the "far right, and particularly ultra-nationalists and white supremacists being reinvented as the Alt-Right...[and becoming]... much more successful in influencing mainstream debate and political actors."[30] Sharing an opinion piece in 2020, Spoonley argued that far-right extremism "remains a high-level threat in New Zealand."[31] In 2020, Spoonley published an article in which he recalled how in 2010, during his time at the University of Berkeley, he became aware of a political group called The Tea Party that had "established a legacy of radical populism and, among its more extreme members, a new form of white identity politics."[32] He was concerned at the degree that radical right-wing groups were using the internet to influence people and this came more into focus after the Christchurch mosque shootings in 2019.

On 10 March 2020, a New Zealand news service Stuff discussed a document allegedly prepared by a neo-nazi group Action Zealandia that told its members to refuse any interviews and detailed the powers of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (SIS), the Government Communications Security Bureau (GSSB) and a special investigation group established by the New Zealand Police, which according to the manual was trained to "coerce" information from people. Spoonley commented that this was more comprehensive than anything he had previously researched and made the point it indicated that there is a "degree of sophistication, especially in relation to online far-right activities, which is new and concerning."[33]

On immigration in New Zealand, Spoonley has advocated for a population policy to manage immigration and find the balance between the numbers and meeting labour and skill demands and argued that the country should have set a target of net migration each year to be around one per cent of the population. Issues included a dropping fertility rate and an ageing population in New Zealand; where immigrants might live; deficits in infrastructure and how temporary work visas were managed in terms of a possible transition to permanent residency. There was also the need to address issues around how immigrants were viewed by the local population and including building awareness of the value of diversity and social inclusion and deal with extremism that created anxiety through such things as hate speech and xenophobia.[34][35] He noted that there hadn't been a discussion about this since the mid 1970s [36] and argued that COVID-19 had highlighted how complex the situation was and the importance of having a "comprehensive and informed discussion about population change and options."[37][38] In the light of the Christchurch mosque shootings (2018), Spoonley was critical of New Zealand's complacency about the potential threat from far-right groups, including neo-Nazi and extreme nationalists,[39] and a year on from the Christchurch mosque shootings estimated that there could be 150 - 300 right-wing activists in New Zealand and that the Christchurch attacks were not a "one-off or an aberration – rather than something we still need to guard against."[40]

As a result of the "demographic disruption" that happened with regard to immigration in New Zealand because of restrictions put in place to manage the coronavirus pandemic,[41] Spoonley questioned whether the country could maintain the positive social bonds built during the pandemic into a future that will have further issues to manage in unemployment and housing.[42] He also expressed it was important to acknowledge the number of New Zealanders returning to their home country during Covid-19.[43]

Spoonley had concerns that political rhetoric could damage the reputation of New Zealand as a country that was welcoming and tolerant. He said he was "very disappointed with the level of the debate generally...[but it was necessary]... to have a discussion about immigration because it's now very important to this country, in terms of both its social and economic impacts."[44][45] Spoonley said that immigrants have contributed considerably to New Zealand society[46] and that in spite of some challenges, immigrant communities were now getting large enough to sustain businesses.[47] Spoonley has said that Maori as tangata whenua of New Zealand could be more involved in policymaking in immigration and take an obvious role in welcoming immigrants to New Zealand, giving the example of how a Maori tribe Ngati Whatua ki Kaipara had engaged with Chinese immigrants, teaching them te reo Maori, waiata and haka.[48]

• Social Policy Critical Issues in New Zealand Society (1992).[49] This book co-edited by Spoonley, examines the welfare state in New Zealand in terms of the effectiveness of the help it offers.
• Reporting Superdiversity. The Mass Media and Immigration in New Zealand (2009).[50] This article examines the role of the media in reporting on the diversity in New Zealand that was happening as a result of immigration.
• Mata Toa The Life and Times of Ranginui Walker (2009).[51] This is a biography of an academic, author, commentator and radical leader who has influenced the views held by Pakeha New Zealanders of Māori people. As an activist Walker, organised the Young Maori Leaders conference in 1970 which led to the formation of Nga Tamatoa.[52][53]
• Ethnic and religious intolerance (2011, reviewed and revised 2018).[54]
• New diversity, old anxieties in New Zealand: the complex identity politics and engagement of a settler society (2014).[55]
• New Zealanders’ attitudes to Asia and Asian peoples: An exceptional case?(2015).[56]
• Rebooting the Regions: Why low or zero growth needn't mean the end of prosperity (2016)[57]
• Renegotiating citizenship: Indigeneity and superdiversity in contemporary Aotearoa/New Zealand. In J. Mann (Ed.) Citizenship in *Transnational Perspective: Australia, Canada, and New Zealand (2017).[58]
• The politics and construction of identity and childhood: Chinese immigrant families in New Zealand (2017).[59]
• Exploring Society: Sociology for New Zealand Students, 4th Edition (2019).[60]
• Racism and Stereotypes (2019).[61]
• The New New Zealand - The Demographic Disruption We're Not Talking About (2020).[62] Authored by Spoonley, this book examines data on the demographic transition of New Zealand and how the speed of this has made the formulation of social policy difficult.[63] When discussing this book in an interview on RNZ, Spoonley said that New Zealand needs to do some rapid forward planning to deal with the fast-changing demographics.[64]

A fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, in 2009 Spoonley was awarded the Royal Society of New Zealand Science and Technology medal in recognition of his academic scholarship, leadership and public contribution to cultural understanding[2]

In 2011, his contribution to Sociology was acknowledged with the Sociological Association of Aotearoa New Zealand's scholarship for exceptional service to New Zealand sociology.[65][66]