Coping with insecurity : family firms in the New South Wales logging industry

Abstract

Although logging firms are at the centre of the conflict over logging native forests in Australia, little is known about them or the families which own them. This thesis provides a detailed account of a hitherto unexplored world. Its insight stems from my unique position as an insider, with a family background in logging and a role with the New South Wales Logging Association. The study combines a detailed examination of logging firms with an analysis of how they respond to the insecurities and livelihood problems that confront them. It argues a case that only by achieving the integration of the relations of production with those of family and gender can this be done. The analytical framework constructed here is informed by political economy and feminist developments in the social theory of family and work. The central concepts of political economy, such as class and labour process theories, are important in describing the structure of the industry and employment relations. However, social structures and processes other than these are important in frilly understanding how family firms operate. The relations of family and gender are explored and ideological dimensions are integrated into the overall analysis. By integrating these concepts, logging firms are differentiated in terms of variations in the family labour process and capitalist class relations by drawing upon the experiences of owners of logging firms in northern New South Wales. Realist methodologies, such as participant observation and interviewing, are used to explore the reality of the owners lives and to find out what it means to be a 'logging contractor' and a 'logging contractor's wife'.. Gender and family are defining features of the labour process. Women play an important role which varies according to the type of firm. Notions of family and kinship shape employment relations between employers and owners in complex, informal and negotiated ways. The major sources of insecurity and uncertainty for logging firms and their families are: the flexible contract system in the timber industry and the environmental movement's anti-logging campaigns. The cumulative business, family and personal effects of these are discussed. This research supports the argument for integrating capitalist class relations with those of family and gender in the analysis of family logging firms. In doing so, an in-depth analysis of the logging industry and logging firms is acquired, contributing to a better understanding of the logging industry in northern New South Wales and a reorientation of political economy.