Contemporary Society Classless Society Continue to Circulate

Question: Discuss about the Contemporary Society for Classless Society Continue to Circulate. Answer: Australia has historically prided itself on being a classless society. However, the issue of intergenerational mobility, i.e. the extent to which parents education, occupation or income determines and shapes their children has been undergoing dynamic changes. This also has an influence on Australian societal structure. In Australia, the intergenerational wealth is been transferred at a relatively fixed rate combined with a slow rate of intergenerational earnings elasticity that poses serious questions to the Australians own mythology of being classless society (Nadel and Frederick 2013). The essay, therefore, discusses how the myth of Australia being a classless society continues to circulate. With a little exploring and analysis, it can be firmly stated that Australia is not a classless society; or at least, not as classless as positioned by various historians, scholars or politicians. The idea that Australia is a classless society is a complete myth that many Australians still cling to, however, the reality is that such ideas were just propaganda and Australia is still far away from being a utopian society. Historically, Australian society has been suffered from the problems of class struggle in the form of aboriginals and settlers (Holmes et al. 2014). However, the real problems of class struggle become evident with the advent of industrial revolution. During that period, the society was divided in mainly two classes i.e. working class and the owners. Since the period of industrial revolution until today the ownership of factors of production are controlled by a relatively small ruling class that takes decision for the masses and exercise power over them. Therefore, to believe that Australia is a classless society by any means is denying these facts. Moreover, Australia has mixed economy that implies capitalist mode of production and concentration of wealth, thereby presence of different class within the society (Black and Donald 2014). The majority of Australian society can be broadly divided in three major classes the top 10% that constitutes politicians, entrepreneurs, businesspersons that controls the factors of production and power. Then comes the bottom 20% of the society and they are practically invisible in the luminal crack of long-term employment, lack access to the basic needs, and are marginalized akin to vast bulk of indigenous Australians. The third class is the middle class that owns some factors of production and have access to the minimum infrastructure. The middle class is the biggest social class in the Australia and is further sub-divided in various categories (Winton and Tim 2014). The egalitarian self-image that Australia has so long presented itself has made the society that they are all equal and there exists no class system in Australia, but in reality, this belief has just made the discussion on class related issues impossible and in the process has given rise to even greater divide among the society. According to United Nations Development Program, during the period 1990s and 2000s, wealth of top fifth earners grew four times faster than the bottom fifth. This proves that Australian egalitarian society is just a myth and inequality is growing (Zyngier and David 2015). Taking a cue from the intergenerational mobility, it can be seen that the transfer of wealth from one generation to another is relatively fixed and also the rate of intergenerational earning elasticity is poor. That implies that the factors of production, economic and social power, access to basic infrastructure are not freely available to all members of the society. The people belonging to bottom of the social pyramid are constantly denied access to various infrastructure and other important resources and as a result are struck in the bottom generation after generation (Harris and Carroll 2015). In addition, presence of different classes within the Australian society has always been there and one can track the same throughout the Australian history. However, the contemporary perception that class system does not exists and does not affect the Australian people is based partially on egalitarian dream and partly due to the economic transformation that began in mid 1980s. These factors had determining role on shaping the societal structure and helped in distributing factors of production and other resources more freely. However, it did not eliminated the class structure within the society but just made the people think that they live in equitable society where everyone is free to chose what is right from them and all members of the society have equal rights over the resources of the country. However, at the same time, income inequality grew at a rapid pace at this time but people become more contended of the fact that the market has been deregulated and tolerance for inequality grew much stronger. Further, with the increasing socio-economic divide resulted in formation of different classes that has always been present within the Australian society (Thornton and Margaret 2012). According to one study by Australian National University economist Dr. Andrew Leigh, the salary of a CEO in top 50 company was 27 times more than the national average in the 90s, however, a decade later it became 98 times more. This clearly indicates the increasing concentration of wealth in the hands of few at the upper segment of the social class pyramid. Moreover, one in every three adult Australian receives some sort of government income support (Harris and Carroll 2015). Apart from that many non-governmental organization such as Salvos, The Smith Family, Oxfam, and the like are in their effort to diminish the gap between different classes make enormous contribution. Taking an example of Sleepbus, a nongovernmental organization that provides shelter and sleeping solutions for people who sleep rough and are homeless. According to the NGO, on any given night in Australia, 105,000 people are homeless and are bound to sleep on streets (Sleepbus.org 2016). Therefore, how it can be sai d that Australian society is devoid of class and everybody is equal, but choosing to deny the presence of class in the Australian society has made our perception of structural inequalities more superficial (Thornton and Margaret 2012). The class gap has become so prominent that it affects all aspects of the life but still unperceivable. Examples of class inequality are rampant in the society. Although, there are equal opportunities for every individual, the privilege gap segregating the rich private schools, hospitals, etc. that are well equipped, well organized and organized as compared to the poorly run public institutions in itself tells a different story (Murray et al. 2012). Moreover, moving ahead and breaking the societal class has been difficult due to the massive control over the countries resources by a handful section of the society. The intergenerational mobility proves that the social and economic status have relatively remained the same, generation after generation and that has played a determining role in the emergence of class. Moreover, class system has grown so much over the community that Australians have become accustomed to their respective class and show little resistance. The class system has become embedded in the Australian structure, however, the recent recession in the economy has revealed the true nature of the society and people are becoming aware of their socio economic status and have started to question established norms and social structure (Wise and Nathan 2012). From the above discussion, it can be concluded that how Australia in spite of being a class based society has been able to present itself as a classless society. The scholars, political leaders and people in power for their own benefits have circulated the myth that Australia is a classless society; fuelled by the ideology and dream of becoming an egalitarian society. However, the truth is far from that and class based society and inter class struggle is a reality. The massive inequality concerning to social and economic status, ownership of factors of production and intergenerational mobility further indicates the presence of class based inequality and government needs to take proper measures to eliminate such inequalities. References Black, Donald, ed.Toward a general theory of social control: Fundamentals. Vol. 1. Academic Press, 2014. Harris, Lauren Carroll. "Kangaroo and the'Lie of Australian Classlessness'."Kill Your Darlings24 (2015): 130. "Home - Sleepbus". 2016. Sleepbus.Org. https://www.sleepbus.org/. Holmes, David, Kate Hughes, and Roberta Julian.Australian sociology. Pearson Australia, 2014. Murray, Georgina, and Jenny Chesters. 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