Class is no longer relevant in Australia - SGY 14

Discuss the following statement:


Class is no longer relevant in Australia.
The class factor still exists in Australia. Class is almost always referred to as hierarchy in the society. It is the division of the society into different status. There is no denying that class factors do exist and that a normal workplace comprises of two groups; the ‘management’ and the ‘employees’. There used to be distinction of classes in job status’, for example the blue collar or the white collar worker. Now it has been replaced by the title tradesman or the office personnel.

The days where everybody worked side by side and hand in hand is long over. Capitalism is widely practiced in Australia. Employers who used to rely on expertise while they shared their capital with their employees have had to move on to new technologies to cope with the increased demand of consumers. As technology improves, the gap between classes will grow even further apart. By moving on to sophisticated equipments we notice how employees get replaced by technology. As a result, the need for employment diminishes and leads to retrenchments. The capitalist has to find means to increase productivity at a lower cost. Labor powers cost more money in the long run when compared to the one-off cost of purchasing equipments that have a longer lifespan.

We see how the rich gets richer and more influential while the poor gets poorer. Many times the only way businesses or individuals get more is by investing capital that they already own or through social relations (e.g. contact with other established businesses or business tycoons).
In Australia, big organisations including the government constantly pride themselves in the amount of employees or offices (i.e. buildings) they have through mass employment and wealth, claim to make a difference in the community. This subliminally divided the community into classes (i.e. the people who own the organisation and the employees). As stated by Connell and Irving, ‘These organisations jointly control the country’(Connell and Irving, 1992) through their status in the eye of the society.

In conclusion, class itself is inevitable anywhere especially in a developed country. As Weber focus on how property ownership, commerce and social status influence the inequalities of classes (Weber, 1968), workers have no choice but to rely on their labor power to earn a living, while capitalist enjoys the fruit of the employees’ labor (Engels, 1950). Capitalism is here to stay.


Reference list
CONNELL, R. W. & IRVING, T. H. (1992) Yes Virginia, there is a ruling class', in T. Jagenberg and P.D' Alton (eds.) Four Dimensional Social Space, , Artarmon Harper Educational.

ENGELS, F. (1950) 'Wage labour and capital: Introduction' in K. Marx and F.Engels Selected Works in Two Volumes (Volume 1), Moscow, Foreign Languages Publishing House.

WEBER, M. (1968) 'Status goups and classes' in G. Ross and C. Wittch (eds) Economy and Society, Berkeley, Univeristy of California Press.