Some Social Aspects of Embourgeoisement in Australia

Abstract

This article deals with the preliminary findings on some social aspects of embourgeoisement amongst respondents to a social survey in Melbourne, Australia. The sample is stratified into blue collar, white collar and middle class workers. The findings are that whilst there is little or no difference in the source of general `life-satisfactions' and orientation to work across the groups, there are strong differences in the `leisure companion' network, membership of and leadership in `voluntary associations', and `educational aspirations for children'. The same results were found when income was held constant. These findings, taken into conjunction with previous findings about economic differences, lead to the broad conclusion that whilst Australia is affluent in a similar way to Britain and the U.S.A. the social structure is dissimilar and that there is little evidence of the convergence of the social classes.