Class in New Zealand

Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

In the wake of the global financial crisis and amidst a tide of concern about inequality, now is an opportune time to revisit the topic of class. It is conspicuously absent from most of the discourse surrounding the current state of capitalism and its iniquities, but it is critical to a full understanding of them. In New Zealand, we have always tended to shy away from talk of class, but like all capitalist societies this is a class society, and we are all connected to and divided from others by class relations. Class also connects our present to our past and future, playing key roles in the periodic economic and social transformations shaping our history. New Zealand has been through at least three such transitions, which have all involved significant shifts in class relations and class structures. At this current uncertain juncture in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, we may have the opportunity to forge another transformation.