Social class in New Zealand
Encyclopedia
Class in New Zealand is a product of both Māori and Western social structures. New Zealand was traditionally supposed to be a 'classless society' but this claim is problematic in a number of ways, and has been clearly untrue since at least the 1980s.
). Chiefs were invariably descended from other chiefs, although chieftainship was not the exclusive right of the first born son of the previous chief. If he did not show signs of leadership ability he would be passed over in favour of a brother or other relative. In some tribes women could take on leadership roles, although this was not usual. Women, lowly born men, and even people from other tribes were able to achieve positions of considerable influence. Such people have included Princess Te Puea Herangi
and 'kingmaker' Wiremu Tamihana
. Until the advent of Christianity it was normal for prisoners of war to be enslaved. Slaves had no rights and could be killed at the will of their master. However their children were free members of the tribe.
Present-day Māori society is far less hierarchical than it traditionally was, although it is still stratified by European standards. A disproportionate number of Māori MPs
come from chiefly families, for example. However, a number of lowly-born Māori have achieved positions of considerable mana
within their communities by virtue of their achievements or learning.
Until about the 1980s it was claimed that New Zealand was a 'classless society
'. Historian Keith Sinclair
wrote in 1969 that although New Zealand was not a classless society, "it must be more nearly classless... than any advanced society in the world". From the nineteenth century many visitors also made this claim, for example British socialists Sidney and Beatrice Webb
. The evidence for this was the relatively small range of wealth (that is, the wealthiest did not earn hugely more than the poorest earners), lack of deference to authority figures, high levels of class mobility, a high standard of working class living compared to Britain, progressive labour laws which protected workers and encouraged unionism, and a welfare state
which was developed in New Zealand before most other countries. Also, during the post-WWII years, New Zealand became an increasingly prosperous society, with the majority of New Zealanders coming to attain an affluent lifestyle. As noted by the historian William Ball Sutch in 1966,
“Living standards rose in the post-war years through a combination of good prices for exports, borrowing abroad, and the much greater use of internal resources made possible by full production. And as the New Zealand wage structure, taxation system, social security benefits and family farmers combined to make the basic family income fairly high, a higher proportion of people in New Zealand shared the increased amount of goods and services than would have been the case in any other country. This is why most New Zealand families have good housing and extensive durable goods, including a motor-car".
Recently James Belich
has argued that most of this is not evidence of an absence of class but rather of the relatively high status and standard of living of the working class in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Unlike in Britain at this time, New Zealand working class people could regularly eat meat, own their own homes
, and own horses (and later cars), while still being working class. Until the advent of compulsory secondary education in the 1930s, class mobility was limited, although much less so than in Britain.
It has also been argued that in New Zealand race takes the place of class, with Māori and other Polynesians earning less, having a lower standard of living and less education, and working in lower status jobs than people of European descent. They also face prejudice akin to that facing working class people in many European countries.
New Zealanders' egalitarianism
has been criticised as discouraging and denigrating ambition and individual achievement and success – a phenomenon known colloquially as 'Tall Poppy Syndrome
'. New Zealanders tend to value modesty and distrust those who talk about their own merits. They especially dislike anyone who seems to consider themselves better than others even if the person in question is demonstrably more talented or successful than others. It is partly for this reason that mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary is so admired in New Zealand; despite being the first person to climb Mount Everest he was always very modest. Extreme humility was arguably partly responsible for the early death of Prime Minister Norman Kirk
, who may have survived his various health problems had he used his status to get preferential treatment from the public health system, or used private healthcare.
New Zealand's claims to be a classless society were dealt a fatal blow in the 1980s and 1990s by the economic reforms of the fourth Labour government
and its successor, the fourth National government
. The reforms (sometimes called Rogernomics
) made by these governments severely weakened the power of unions, removed a lot of protection from workers, cut social welfare benefits and made state housing
less affordable. Over the period of these reforms, the gap between rich and poor New Zealanders has increased dramatically, with the incomes of the richest 10% of New Zealanders advancing while the other 90% stayed largely static. In addition the number of New Zealanders living in poverty is much higher than in the 1970s.. In an article entitled "Countries with the Biggest Gaps Between Rich and Poor", BusinessWeek ranked New Zealand at 6th in the world:
However although wealth is much more unevenly distributed than previously, New Zealand still lacks most of the overt signals of class which mark countries such as Britain. Most people do not care what others' parents do for a living, who a person is descended from, or where they went to school, and New Zealanders almost invariably have more respect for those who have earned their money through hard work than those who have inherited it or made it through investment.
The trend of greater social disparity has also seen a change in attitudes. Younger New Zealanders increasingly accept inequality as an unavoidable social reality, and egalitarian concerns are less popular.
This has been a troubling phenomenon to all sitting governments and one which becomes hotly debated leading up to the nations' elections.
In the 1990s, P. Davis
et al. published New Zealand Socioeconomic Index of Occupational Status, known as NZSEI. It was based on a 'returns to human capital' model of the stratification process and originally used data from the 1991 New Zealand Census (n=1,051,926) to generate scores for 97 occupational groups. It was later updated using 2006 Census data. NZSEI is a linear scale of ranked occupation, produced using an algorithm involving age, income and education, and aggregated to six discrete groupings (called Socio-economic Status, SES) to enable comparison with E-I and ISEI.
According to the above data, the average income reported by males is considerably higher than that of females for five of the socioeconomic groups. With the exception of SES group four where the female income is higher, males earn
on average between 7 and 34% more than females.
The NZSEI is derived from Census data of employed people, but it can be extended to most of the population using previous occupation (if retired or currently unemployed), or the occupation of the household's main income earner.
In contrast, the NZDep2006 Index of Deprivation is an index of geographic deprivation based upon 9 variables—telephone, benefit, unemployment,household income, car access, single parent family, no qualifications, home ownership, overcrowding.
Circa 2007, Caldwell & Brown published a popular book, which identified eight "hidden tribes" in New Zealand, labelling them after various towns or suburbs: North Shore, Grey Lynn, Balclutha, Remuera, Otara, Raglan, Cuba Street, Papatoetoe.
Māori hierarchies
Māori society has traditionally been one based on rank, which derived from ancestry (whakapapaWhakapapa
Whakapapa , or genealogy, is a fundamental principle that permeates the whole of Māori culture. However, it is more than just a genealogical 'device'...
). Chiefs were invariably descended from other chiefs, although chieftainship was not the exclusive right of the first born son of the previous chief. If he did not show signs of leadership ability he would be passed over in favour of a brother or other relative. In some tribes women could take on leadership roles, although this was not usual. Women, lowly born men, and even people from other tribes were able to achieve positions of considerable influence. Such people have included Princess Te Puea Herangi
Te Puea Herangi
Te Puea Herangi, CBE was a respected Māori leader from New Zealand's Waikato region known by the name Princess Te Puea.-Early life:...
and 'kingmaker' Wiremu Tamihana
Wiremu Tamihana
Wiremu Tamihana Tarapipipi Te Waharoa , generally known as Wiremu Tamihana, was a leader of the Ngati Haua Māori iwi in nineteenth century New Zealand, and is sometimes known as the kingmaker for his role in the Māori King Movement....
. Until the advent of Christianity it was normal for prisoners of war to be enslaved. Slaves had no rights and could be killed at the will of their master. However their children were free members of the tribe.
Present-day Māori society is far less hierarchical than it traditionally was, although it is still stratified by European standards. A disproportionate number of Māori MPs
Maori seats
In New Zealand politics, Māori electorates, colloquially also called Māori seats, are a special category of electorate that gives reserved positions to representatives of Māori in the New Zealand Parliament...
come from chiefly families, for example. However, a number of lowly-born Māori have achieved positions of considerable mana
Mana
Mana is an indigenous Pacific islander concept of an impersonal force or quality that resides in people, animals, and inanimate objects. The word is a cognate in many Oceanic languages, including Melanesian, Polynesian, and Micronesian....
within their communities by virtue of their achievements or learning.
The 'classless society'
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
'. Historian Keith Sinclair
Keith Sinclair
Sir Keith Sinclair, CBE was a poet and noted historian of New Zealand.Born and raised in Auckland, Sinclair was a student at Auckland University College, which was then part of the University of New Zealand. He was awarded a Ph.D...
wrote in 1969 that although New Zealand was not a classless society, "it must be more nearly classless... than any advanced society in the world". From the nineteenth century many visitors also made this claim, for example British socialists Sidney and Beatrice Webb
Beatrice Webb
Martha Beatrice Webb, Lady Passfield was an English sociologist, economist, socialist and social reformer. Although her husband became Baron Passfield in 1929, she refused to be known as Lady Passfield...
. The evidence for this was the relatively small range of wealth (that is, the wealthiest did not earn hugely more than the poorest earners), lack of deference to authority figures, high levels of class mobility, a high standard of working class living compared to Britain, progressive labour laws which protected workers and encouraged unionism, and a welfare state
Welfare state
A welfare state is a "concept of government in which the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those...
which was developed in New Zealand before most other countries. Also, during the post-WWII years, New Zealand became an increasingly prosperous society, with the majority of New Zealanders coming to attain an affluent lifestyle. As noted by the historian William Ball Sutch in 1966,
“Living standards rose in the post-war years through a combination of good prices for exports, borrowing abroad, and the much greater use of internal resources made possible by full production. And as the New Zealand wage structure, taxation system, social security benefits and family farmers combined to make the basic family income fairly high, a higher proportion of people in New Zealand shared the increased amount of goods and services than would have been the case in any other country. This is why most New Zealand families have good housing and extensive durable goods, including a motor-car".
Recently James Belich
James Belich (historian)
James Christopher Belich, ONZM is a New Zealand revisionist historian, known for his work on the New Zealand Wars.Of Croatian descent, he was born in Wellington in 1956, the son of Sir James Belich, who later became Mayor of Wellington. He attended Onslow College.He gained an M.A...
has argued that most of this is not evidence of an absence of class but rather of the relatively high status and standard of living of the working class in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Unlike in Britain at this time, New Zealand working class people could regularly eat meat, own their own homes
The Half Gallon Quarter Acre Pavlova Paradise
The Half Gallon Quarter Acre Pavlova Paradise was a popular book by Austin Mitchell, published by Whitcombe and Tombs , with illustrations by Les Gibbard. It provided a witty, satirical description of life in 1960s New Zealand, and Kiwi culture.Described as "a celebrated vision of New Zealand as...
, and own horses (and later cars), while still being working class. Until the advent of compulsory secondary education in the 1930s, class mobility was limited, although much less so than in Britain.
It has also been argued that in New Zealand race takes the place of class, with Māori and other Polynesians earning less, having a lower standard of living and less education, and working in lower status jobs than people of European descent. They also face prejudice akin to that facing working class people in many European countries.
New Zealanders' egalitarianism
Egalitarianism
Egalitarianism is a trend of thought that favors equality of some sort among moral agents, whether persons or animals. Emphasis is placed upon the fact that equality contains the idea of equity of quality...
has been criticised as discouraging and denigrating ambition and individual achievement and success – a phenomenon known colloquially as 'Tall Poppy Syndrome
Tall poppy syndrome
Tall poppy syndrome is a pejorative term primarily used in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other Anglosphere nations to describe a social phenomenon in which people of genuine merit are resented, attacked, cut down, or criticised because their talents or achievements elevate them above...
'. New Zealanders tend to value modesty and distrust those who talk about their own merits. They especially dislike anyone who seems to consider themselves better than others even if the person in question is demonstrably more talented or successful than others. It is partly for this reason that mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary is so admired in New Zealand; despite being the first person to climb Mount Everest he was always very modest. Extreme humility was arguably partly responsible for the early death of Prime Minister Norman Kirk
Norman Kirk
Norman Eric Kirk was the 29th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1972 until his sudden death in 1974. He led the Parliamentary wing of the New Zealand Labour Party from 1965 to 1974. He was the fourth Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand, but the first to be born in New Zealand...
, who may have survived his various health problems had he used his status to get preferential treatment from the public health system, or used private healthcare.
Fourth Labour Government of New Zealand
The Fourth Labour Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 26 July 1984 to 2 November 1990. It enacted major social and economic reforms, including reformation of the tax system. The economic reforms were known as Rogernomics after Finance Minister Roger Douglas...
and its successor, the fourth National government
Fourth National Government of New Zealand
The Fourth National Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 2 November 1990 to 27 November 1999. Following in the footsteps of the previous Labour government, the fourth National government embarked on an extensive programme of spending cuts...
. The reforms (sometimes called Rogernomics
Rogernomics
The term Rogernomics, a portmanteau of "Roger" and "economics", was coined by journalists at the New Zealand Listener by analogy with Reaganomics to describe the economic policies followed by Roger Douglas after his appointment in 1984 as Minister of Finance in the Fourth Labour Government...
) made by these governments severely weakened the power of unions, removed a lot of protection from workers, cut social welfare benefits and made state housing
State housing
State housing is the system of public housing offered to New Zealand residents on low to moderate incomes. Some 66,000 houses are managed by Housing New Zealand Corporation, most of which are owned by the government.-The Liberal Government:...
less affordable. Over the period of these reforms, the gap between rich and poor New Zealanders has increased dramatically, with the incomes of the richest 10% of New Zealanders advancing while the other 90% stayed largely static. In addition the number of New Zealanders living in poverty is much higher than in the 1970s.. In an article entitled "Countries with the Biggest Gaps Between Rich and Poor", BusinessWeek ranked New Zealand at 6th in the world:
However although wealth is much more unevenly distributed than previously, New Zealand still lacks most of the overt signals of class which mark countries such as Britain. Most people do not care what others' parents do for a living, who a person is descended from, or where they went to school, and New Zealanders almost invariably have more respect for those who have earned their money through hard work than those who have inherited it or made it through investment.
The trend of greater social disparity has also seen a change in attitudes. Younger New Zealanders increasingly accept inequality as an unavoidable social reality, and egalitarian concerns are less popular.
New Zealand 'Brain Drain'
Since approximately 1999, data has consistently shown a pattern indicating that University graduates of New Zealand are choosing to live and work abroad more often. Studies suggest that around 25% of kiwi graduates will choose to emigrate upon graduation, usually selecting Australia, the UK or Canada as their new home.This has been a troubling phenomenon to all sitting governments and one which becomes hotly debated leading up to the nations' elections.
Measures of social class
In 1972 Elley and Irving published Socioeconomic Status in New Zealand, which became one of the most cited papers in New Zealand social sciences. They outlined a socioeconomic index, now known as 'Elley-Irving (E-I)', based on 1966 Census data. E-I proposed six social strata based upon education and income, and grouped by occupation.In the 1990s, P. Davis
Peter Davis (New Zealand)
Peter Davis is a sociologist and the husband of former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark. He met Clark – then a political-science lecturer at Auckland – in 1977...
et al. published New Zealand Socioeconomic Index of Occupational Status, known as NZSEI. It was based on a 'returns to human capital' model of the stratification process and originally used data from the 1991 New Zealand Census (n=1,051,926) to generate scores for 97 occupational groups. It was later updated using 2006 Census data. NZSEI is a linear scale of ranked occupation, produced using an algorithm involving age, income and education, and aggregated to six discrete groupings (called Socio-economic Status, SES) to enable comparison with E-I and ISEI.
| Class | Population distribution |
Mean income ($000) |
Income diff. by sex (M-F) |
Mean years of Education |
Education diff. by sex (M-F) |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SES | % | Males | Females | % diff | $000s | Males | Females | % diff | Years |
| 1 | 6.3 | 67 | 50 | 34 | 17 | 14.4 | 14.8 | −3 | −0.4 |
| 2 | 6.6 | 51 | 42 | 21 | 9 | 14.7 | 15.1 | −3 | −0.4 |
| 3 | 27.6 | 45 | 35 | 27 | 10 | 12.9 | 13.3 | −3 | −0.4 |
| 4 | 20.5 | 33 | 35 | −6 | −2 | 11.9 | 12.0 | −1 | −0.1 |
| 5 | 18.7 | 32 | 30 | 7 | 2 | 11.7 | 12.1 | −3 | −0.4 |
| 6 | 20.2 | 29 | 26 | 12 | 3 | 11.9 | 11.8 | 1 | 0.1 |
According to the above data, the average income reported by males is considerably higher than that of females for five of the socioeconomic groups. With the exception of SES group four where the female income is higher, males earn
on average between 7 and 34% more than females.
The NZSEI is derived from Census data of employed people, but it can be extended to most of the population using previous occupation (if retired or currently unemployed), or the occupation of the household's main income earner.
In contrast, the NZDep2006 Index of Deprivation is an index of geographic deprivation based upon 9 variables—telephone, benefit, unemployment,household income, car access, single parent family, no qualifications, home ownership, overcrowding.
Circa 2007, Caldwell & Brown published a popular book, which identified eight "hidden tribes" in New Zealand, labelling them after various towns or suburbs: North Shore, Grey Lynn, Balclutha, Remuera, Otara, Raglan, Cuba Street, Papatoetoe.