ABSTRACT
Majority group identity has become increasingly problematic, especially in settler societies like New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the USA, which have been constructed by immigration but dominated culturally, politically, and economically by majority 'white' groups. This chapter explores the evolving nature in New Zealand of majority group identity, here identified as Pakeha, as it reflects the influences of a global past and present, and as it has responded to radical changes in the local cultural landscape. A majority group sense of self-identity in New Zealand was some time in the making, and was coterminous with the development of a sense of being a New Zealander. The cultural politics which were so important in encouraging this expression of majority group identity, as well as a new awareness of Tangata Whenua issues, also produced an important counter-reaction which ranged from the 'one New Zealand' nationalism of Muldoon and others through to the dismissal of the new 'political correctness', as it became defined.
