John Morgan

Reset John Morgan

In the late 1990s, after years of skilled and stable employment, John Morgan joined the ranks of the 'precariat', another of the countless victims of neoliberal reforms and so-called labour market flexibility. "I was a classic case study proving that once a person had taken a temporary job after a spell of unemployment, the results were lower earnings for years ahead."

The experience drove his quest to understand how this 'three-and-a-half-decade aberration in our foundational heart and soul, values and politics' came about and - as we face another period of unemployment, dislocation and uncertainty - how we can stop it from repeating.

No dry economic text, Reset is a sweeping account that connects New Zealand's geology and landscape, human migrations, political and social history, and the deep-seated values that emerged - values that, according to Morgan, we urgently need to restore. His solutions are equally sweeping and challenge us to think beyond self-maximizing business as usual to regain our common purpose.