Social Australia

Social stratification in Australia

Australia has a lot of respect for its egalitarian policy. Even though this is so one has to acknowledge the fact that there still exist different social classes to which different people belong. These classes may be classified as the upper class, middle class and the working class.

The upper class largely consists of people who are property owners as well as those who control capital.

The middle class has those people whose jobs are classified as non manual. Some of the professions in this class are doctors, accountants, engineers among others.
The working class largely consists of those in occupations that are manual in nature. There is however a belief that socioeconomic mobility is possible. This is even supported by the 'give one a fair go' attitude among Australians.

When it comes to symbols that show the class in which one belongs to, not all can give a clear cut line of distinction between two consecutive classes. The upper class may dress in expensive clothes, drive expensive cars and live in up market dwellings.

Material things however can be a misleading indicator. Take clothes for example, other than money, there are other factors that influence the clothes that a person may choose to put on. For example some well-off teenagers may have clothes in line with the fashion more that those that would be said to be of their class.

Also, one may choose to dress in a style that is depicting a certain subculture rather than class. In the same way those in the middle class may dress expensively and drive expensive cars bought by money from a loan.

The better class symbols are such things as the entertainment preference, engagement in certain types of sporting activities, speech patterns as well as arts.