Some problems of adjustment in a minority group

Abstract

The material for this study was collected over a period of fifteen months, extending from March 1949 to June 1950. The locality was a New Zealand city, and the focus of this study was a small group of Maori girls who were attempting to live in an environment which was predominantly Pakeha. The method of approach to this group was by participant observation of the cultural life of these girls as they carried out daily tasks, as they relaxed by a fireside, or as they joined in with formal and informal gatherings. No set questionnaire was used, and no direct approach for a formal interview was ever made. Material was obtained by personal observation, and by reports from both Maori and Pakeha friends. To give validity to the interpretation of the material which was collected, certain hypotheses have to be postulated as frames of reference. This involves the use of certain methodological techniques, the enunciation of a particular theory of personality development, some description of the learning process which underlies this theory, as well as some investigation into those processes which are implied in the very concept of society.