Background Class and Class Relationships

Class and class relationships

The issue of class is rarely discussed in contemporary Australia. If it is, it is usually to dismiss any one who might argue it exists. But I believe, and the evidence confirms, that class remains an important issue in our contemporary lives.

This blog gives provides some background to the issue of class and what it means. As you read it, you should reflect on what class means to you – if anything – and what are your own experiences of it.


What does class mean?

Unfortunately, like most of every concept in sociology, class has many meanings and your final understanding will ultimately depend on how you approach the term. There are two dimensions to class:

• Class refers to access to economic resources including money and capital; and
• Class refers to access of opportunities.

Those who believe class is important see society divided by a specific hierarchy of social groups defined in terms of their access to economic resources and with fundamentally different and opposed interests. Class groups can be divided by both wealth and status. This comes from two broad theoretical positions:

• Class in materialist terms
This position argues that we need to look and understand class through materialist (or money) terms. That is, we can divide and separate society into different groups based on their access to wealth: these are classes. (Personally, I think that this is much too simple, and while it is important to recognise wealth as a determinant to class, there is more to it than that.)

• Class and status
Another way to look at class is through social status: that is, money counts, but what is more important is your background and the opportunities that this affords. Therefore, you may be earning twice the amount of money than someone else, but if you do not live in the right area or go to the right school, speak with the proper accent, then your status can be seen as below hers.

Therefore, status creates a hierarchy (or order) of social groups with a shared sense of social belonging and prestige that becomes the basis for the unequal distribution of resources and also opportunities.


Theoretical framing

There are two broad schools of thought that are important in discussions of class. The first is historical materialism and its founder was Karl Marx who saw that the driver to all social change was class struggle. For Marx, the material class interests (or the class that we belong to) are the basis of society. This is how we identify who we are.

The class divisions and structures cause ongoing tensions within society. These tensions emerge as those with power exploit those with less power. This tension always creates a potentially explosive situation.

For Marx, and other materialists, this tension drives social change. So we can look at the 38-hour working week or maternity leave – this occurred not because one day the capitalist class felt that they should give workers more time. Rather, there was a struggle between the material interests of two classes: a conflict resulted that resulted in a compromise.

The second school of thought is that, while class is important in understanding society, conflict does not necessarily result. Society does function around class tensions but this creates a kind of harmony as we see the upper class and want to be like them. So we get consensus theories.


Australia – a classless society?

Every nation likes to portray a specific identity and Australia is no different as we often argue that we are a classless society: that is, there is no distinction and limitations of opportunities between different groups within Australia based on access to economic wealth and resources.

According to authors such as McGregor (2001), there is no such thing as a classless society because class provides the basic social structures for all modern societies. In other words, while we may pretend that Australia's does not have a class system, it does not mean class is not real. In fact, evidence provided by McGregor (2001) shows that in the last 10-15 years, the inequalities in Australia are becoming increasingly pronounced.

Sam Pietsch (2005) gives the following example in his attempt to convince readers that class counts in Australia:

• In the year 2000 the federal government announced its funding formula to secondary schools (that has subsequently been supported by the new, Rudd Government). The process was justified on grounds of 'socio-economic areas' – that is, geographic areas, as if in some way certain areas are all the same.
• The result was that the 62 richest schools in Australia received an extra $56 million in funding (including Kings and Knox getting an extra $1.3 million each). Parramatta high got a few thousand dollars extra.
• The Kings’s School and Parramatta High are in the same area: Kings has 15 cricket fields, 5 basketball courts, 12 tennis courts, 13 rugby fields, 3 soccer pitches, a gym and indoor climbing activities, not to mention an indoor rifle range). I am not sure which of these Parramatta has.
• If we look at the federal government, more than three-quarters of the politicians were educated in private schools (with both the current and previous prime ministers the notable exceptions).

This example is not used as a way to marginalise private schools or create some type of antagonism between public and private, but rather to highlight how privilege breeds privilege. Thus is because if you did go to Kings then this is because your family can afford it. The consequence is that the opportunities then afforded to you compared to Parramatta High, are significantly different.

Some more statistics:
• The 5 percent of the wealthiest Australians own more than the bottom 90 percent put together. These top 5 percent have access to the best education, career opportunities and the seats of power.
• And this translates in many ways, not just income. Poorer Australians, including indigenous people, have high levels of health problems, suicide, are victims of crime and die younger.
• In addition, the truth is that most of us will not be able to move away from the class we were born in. Though class mobility is possible, it is a lot less than you would think.
• Class, working class, upper class or middle class, often defines our leisure time including the sports that we follow. How many working class people are interested in polo for example?
• Ownership of large companies is extremely concentrated, with the top 20 shareholders usually having control of the company. Directors of the top 20 companies hold an average of 2.2 directorships.
• The top 20% of households average $1.7 million p.a., while the bottom 20% owns just 1% of Australia’s wealth at $27,000 pa per household.

All this is evidence of the class system in action. So, the fact is that different classes in Australia have different incomes, different jobs, different interests, and different health experiences (just to mention a few). In other words, we see people living very different lives.


Class mobility in Australia

Though class mobility is possible, it is a lot less than you would think: that is, the ability to move up in different positions of status (and also income). Measured by the Gini-coefficient, which measures income equality/inequality, class mobility has decreased as inequality has increased in the last 10 years. So: do you know believe class exists in Australia?


Understanding class-consciousness

Despite this evidence, most politicians and political commentators in Australia rarely use the word and there us a belief that we live in an egalitarian society continues to dominate. There are two competing interpretations of why people are rarely conscious of these inequalities.

The first interpretation is that such denial of class makes us less conscious of class. This means that we allow things to occur that we otherwise would not. So, some commentators would look at the fact that full fee paying students are allowed to enter universities below the UAI scores and say that this confirms the class system in Australia. Further, the fact that there were no massive protests and public outcry means that we do not have a class consciousness. This all means that we allow those in power maintain the status quo.

This is an important dimension of understanding authors such as Karl Marx. Marx argued that structural inequalities would persist until we overcome the lack of consciousness to these inequalities.

The alternative interpretation is that a lack of class discussion means that we are not over exposed to such ideas and are much more attuned to identifying it when it emerges. If politicians or others begin to use class for political means, then we see a backlash against them. The issue of full fee paying students is not a class issue then, but something that adds to the choices made by many Australians.

Depending on your opinion, this will explain why there is no 'class conflict' in Australia. The first interpretation confirms that a lack of consciousness stops people from fighting back, while the later interpretation indicates that we see and accept inequality but that we also see it as not built in, but something that can be overcome.


Power and class

As indicated above, class relationships are also focussed on the issue of power. The wealthy owners are seen to attempt to gain as much profit as possible. In this way, capitalism is an economic system based on antagonism as businesses ruthlessly compete to make a profit. But while corporations compete on a daily basis, they do share certain fundamental political and economic interests – you could even say social. In other words, those in power with all the wealth actually work to keep society working to their advantage.

You should not think of this as a conspiracy, it is not. There are too many people involved and we all know how the system operates.

There are many views on how this operates, but one important perspective is the idea of 'hegemony'. Hegemony means 'dominance' over others. The term has been extended to refer to the dominance of one nation over others, and, following the work of Antonio Gramsci, of one class over others (see Ives 2004). Gramsci's use of the concept extends it beyond international relations to class structure and even to culture.


The middle class

Another explanation for general harmony is Australia revolves around the emergence of a strong middle class: with Australia sometimes called the most middle class society in the world. That is, historically society was defined by two classes: the bourgeoisie (owners of the factors of production or businesses) and the proletariat (the workers). The middle class did not rate a mention. But today, we refer to the class structure as upper, middle and lower.

The emergence of such a strong middle class is driven by:
• Self-identification (or the way we see ourselves) with 90 percent of people in studies identifying themselves as either middle or working class;
• Australia has very high levels of home ownership, dominance of white-collar occupations, high incomes and a large section of the population living in suburbs. (This means that you may not see yourself as a 'boss', but not a worker either because you have access to some economic capital.)
• Another important factor here is that 42% of shareholders hold less than $10,000 shares: this represents half of Australian adults owning shares directly or indirectly. (The income they receive is not enough to live on, and just as important is the fact that they will never have enough voting power to direct the company)

But is the middle class being hollowed out? Well, over the last 15 years or so we have seen massive amounts of social change brought about by globalisation and the accompanying neoliberal policies of free trade. These have undermined the stability of the Australian economy as well as that of the middle class.

In a landmark survey, Michael Pussey (2001) from UNSW found that 85 percent of respondents were angry about the changes brought about by the forces of globalisation and its impacts on the middle class. The people interviewed felt that they could not count on a job for life, and their financial situations were dominated by stress, anxiety and a lack of control over their lives. This is spilling over into the community and we are seeing a decline in the sense of community that people experience.

The way that Pussey puts it, we can account for suicide, stress related illness and drinking, violence and gambling mainly as a result of stress placed on families
Maybe we can even interpret the reaction against refugees and even the Cronulla Riots from a class based perspective: that is, the stress that people in the middle and lower class is feeling is spilling over into violence.

Social commentator, Hugh Mackay, now believes that the middle class is shrinking. This is in part driven by the fact that the increase in casual and part-time work has seen a fall in middle class incomes. If anything, this is likely to get worse: we are seeing record levels of people going bankrupt and losing their homes. The Smith Family and other organisations that offer support to those struggling are seeing an increase in people turning up with nice cars: if you live in the outer suburbs, you need a car to survive rather than it being a luxury good

Despite such changes, self-identification persists, as does much other evidence to support the class hypothesis.


A divided society

There are two broad views in what is going to happen next in our society. The first is that we will continue to see a hollowing out of the middle class. One group, those who have adapted to the information age and the forces of globalisation are continuing to reap its benefits. Then there are those who have been left behind.

So in a way, we can look at the geography of Sydney and see a very different city depending on your life chances. Some of us can jump in a plane and get work in Europe, India or the USA. Others are unlikely to ever travel beyond the east coast of Australia for a holiday. So when you graduate, you may end up having more in common with teachers or other professionals in Pakistan, Israel or France, than what you do with those who live in the next suburb.

The second perspective is that this is a minor hiccup and we will return to a bulging middle class: people just have to get used to all the changes that are occurring.

We will find out soon enough.

Cheers, james

Bibliography

Arvanitakis, J. (2009) Contemporary Society, Oxford University Press, Melbourne
Ives, P. (2004) Language and hegemony in Gramsci, Ann Arbor, MI, London
McGregor, C. (2001) Chapter 1 'Class counts', Class in Australia, 2nd ed., Ringwood Vic.: Penguin pp. 1–29
Pietsch, S. (2005) 'To have and to hold on to: wealth, power and the capitalist class', in R. Kuhn (ed.) Class Struggle in Australia, Sydney, Pearson Education Australia, pp.22-38.
Pusey, M. (2003) The experience of middle Australia: the dark side of economic reform, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Van Krieken et al (2006) Sociology: Themes and perspectives, Pearson Education Australia, Frenches Forest