Working class or affluent? Find out where you fit in Australia

Updated

Australia is the land of the fair go, free from the class shackles of the old world... Or are we?

New research from the ANU shows there are five social classes in Australia. Take our questionnaire to find out where you fit.

This article includes an interactive component which is not supported on this platform. For the full interactive experience in this article, you will need a modern web browser with JavaScript enabled. Find out more about browser support at ABC News Online.

So where did this come from?

The questionnaire is based on a UK study commissioned by the BBC that explored changing ideas of class, and asked the question whether traditional ideas of social hierarchy were still relevant.

While Australia has historically been far less focused on the idea of social classes, ANU academics Dr Jill Sheppard and Dr Nicholas Biddle were curious about whether they exist in Australia, and surveyed 1,200 Australians on their economic position, their cultural habits, and their social networks.

How did they work out what the classes were?

The researchers used a theory on class put forward by sociologist Pierre Bourdieu; that people have three different forms of capital determining where they sit in the social pecking order - economic, cultural and social.

The distribution of these three forms of capital represent constraints on our ability to get ahead in the social structure, or if you're at the top, hold onto your position.

By surveying people on these different forms of capital, Dr Sheppard and Dr Biddle then used a technique called latent class analysis to find what the distinct groups are.

Latent class analysis works by dividing people into groups that are statistically similar, stopping when any extra divisions result in a new group populated by people who could fit in one of the existing groups.

The questionnaire you just completed is designed to measure these different forms of capital, and assign you to one of these groups.

So what are the different classes?

Dr Sheppard and Dr Biddle have labelled these five classes as; established working class, established middle class, mobile middle class, emerging affluent class, and established affluent class.

Members of the established working class have the lowest household incomes, the lowest rates of social and cultural capital, and both they and their parents have relatively low 'occupational prestige' scores (wherein medical specialists rate highly, and low-skilled manual labourers score lowly). They also have the highest mean age of the classes.

Members of the established middle class earn close to average household incomes, and possess close to average social and cultural capital. They come from middle-class families: their parents' occupational prestige was close to the mean, and they follow in those footsteps.

Mobile middle class members come from middle-class families, but have above average educational qualifications. Likely as a consequence, they report higher household income, property assets, and social capital than the two previous classes.

Members of the emerging affluent class have turned the benefits of education into household income. The youngest of the five classes, members have high levels of cultural and social capital, and both parents have held prestigious occupations. Noticeably, members of this class report few savings: their property assets are the second lowest of the five classes, only slightly ahead of the established working class.

The established affluent class resemble an older generation of emerging affluent Australians. Members of this class have high household incomes (despite relatively low occupational prestige), large and diverse social networks, and above average educational qualifications. Both parents have worked in high prestige occupations.

What do Australians think of class, and how much does it really matter?

While dividing up Australians into five groups inevitably involves a level of generalisation, the study highlights a number of interesting facets of Australian society.

Despite these clear differences in class, the vast majority of people in Australia identify as middle or working class, with only 2 per cent of the 1,200 people who participated in the research identifying as upper class.

This, along with the fact that Australia only has five classes, compared to the seven in the UK, indicates the social hierarchy is less rigid and important in Australia than in the mother country.

According to Dr Sheppard and Dr Biddle this indicates that Australian social classes are more inclusive than their British counterparts, and there is a broader range of people, in terms of economic, social, and cultural capital in each of the Australian classes.

So what are the differences between the classes, and what are the similarities?

While Australians may not be aware of these social groups, it doesn't mean they don't impact on our society.

There were noticeable differences of opinion between the classes on issues such as the role government should play in reducing inequality - with the established working class more likely to view this issue as the government's responsibility.

While the established working and mobile middle classes are the most supportive of the Liberal Party, and the emerging affluent class is the most supportive of Labor, the established middle and affluent classes were the most likely to vote Green at the time of the survey.

However despite these trends, the different classes didn't fracture along strong political lines, with all classes showing a mix of voting intentions.

According to Dr Sheppard and Dr Biddle this could support the argument made that class plays a far more limited role in Australian politics than it once did.

Topics: community-and-society, social-sciences

First posted