Middle Australia

Last updated

The term "Middle Australian" is a socio-political term which generally refers to middle class or lower-middle class Australian people who hold traditional or right-wing views. [1] [2] [3] As such, it does not refer to the geographical middle of the country, but rather to the socio-economic middle (as is also the primary meaning of the monikers "Middle America" or "Middle England"). [4] [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social class</span> Hierarchical social stratification

A social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being the working class, middle class, and upper class. Membership of a social class can for example be dependent on education, wealth, occupation, income, and belonging to a particular subculture or social network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bourgeoisie</span> Social class

The bourgeoisie is a class of business owners and merchants which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted with the proletariat by their wealth, political power, and education, as well as their access to and control of cultural, social and financial capital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Student</span> Learner, or someone who attends an educational institution

A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social class in the United States</span> Grouping Americans by some measure of social status

Social class in the United States refers to the idea of grouping Americans by some measure of social status, typically by economic status. However, it could also refer to social status and/or location. The idea that American society can be divided into social classes is disputed, and there are many competing class systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middle class</span> Class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy

The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Common definitions for the middle class range from the middle fifth of individuals on a nation's income ladder, to everyone but the poorest and wealthiest 20%. Theories like "Paradox of Interest" use decile groups and wealth distribution data to determine the size and wealth share of the middle class.

<i>The Sydney Morning Herald</i> Daily compact newspaper in Australia

The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the Herald is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia and claims to be the most widely-read masthead in the country. The newspaper is published in compact print form from Monday to Saturday as The Sydney Morning Herald and on Sunday as its sister newspaper, The Sun-Herald and digitally as an online site and app, seven days a week. It is considered a newspaper of record for Australia. The print edition of The Sydney Morning Herald is available for purchase from many retail outlets throughout the Sydney metropolitan area, most parts of regional New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and South East Queensland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middle England</span> Conservative middle classes in England

The phrase "Middle England" is a socio-political term which generally refers to middle class or lower-middle class people in England who hold traditional conservative or right-wing views.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Half-caste</span> Type of biracial person

Half-caste is a term used for individuals of multiracial descent. It is derived from the term caste, which comes from the Latin castus, meaning pure, and the derivative Portuguese and Spanish word casta, meaning race. Terms such as half-caste, caste, quarter-caste and mix-breed were used by colonial officials in the British Empire during their classification of indigenous populations, and in Australia used during the Australian government's pursuit of a policy of assimilation. In Latin America, the equivalent term for half-castes was Cholo and Zambo. Some people now consider the term offensive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Hockey</span> Australian politician

Joseph Benedict Hockey is an Australian former politician and diplomat. He was the Member of Parliament for North Sydney from 1996 until 2015. He was the Treasurer of Australia in the Abbott government from 18 September 2013 until September 2015 when he resigned from Cabinet, having refused an alternative offer from the incoming Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull. He previously served as the Minister for Human Services and Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations in the Howard government. He also served as Ambassador of Australia to the United States from January 2016 until January 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes</span> Official designations given to various groups of indigenous people in India

The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designated in one or other of the categories. For much of the period of British rule in the Indian subcontinent, they were known as the Depressed Classes.

Westie, or Westy, is slang in Australian and New Zealand English for residents of the Greater Western Sydney, the western suburbs of Melbourne, or the western suburbs of Auckland, New Zealand.

In developed nations around the world, the lower middle class is a subdivision of the greater middle class. Universally, the term refers to the group of middle class households or individuals who have not attained the status of the middle or upper middle class associated with the higher realms of the middle class, hence the name.

Lad culture was a media-driven, principally British and Irish subculture of the 1990s and the early 2000s. The term lad culture continues to be used today to refer to collective, boorish or misogynistic behaviour by young heterosexual men, particularly university students.

Battlers, in Australian colloquialism, are ordinary working-class people who persevere through their commitments despite adversity. Typically, this adversity comprises low pay, family problems, environmental hardships and personal recognition woes. It is a term of respect and endearment intended to empower and recognise those who feel as though they exist at the bottom of society. It has seen recent use in mainstream politics to describe a demographic of Australian people, most notably by former Prime Minister John Howard, who used it to describe his working-class voting base.

Catherine Anne Cox is a former Australian netball international and current netball commentator. Between 1997 and 2013, she made 108 senior appearances for Australia. She was a prominent member of the Australia teams that won gold medals at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and the 2007 and 2011 World Netball Championships. She was also a member of the Australia teams that won silver medals at the 2003 World Netball Championships and the 2006 and 2010 Commonwealth Games. Cox captained Australia on seven occasions, including when they won the 2011 Constellation Cup.

Conservatism in Australia refers to the political philosophy of conservatism as it has developed in Australia. Politics in Australia has, since at least the 1910s, been most predominantly a contest between the Australian labour movement and the combined forces of anti-Labour groups. The anti-Labour groups have at times identified themselves as "free trade", "nationalist", "anti-communist", "liberal", and "right of centre", among other labels; until the 1990s, the label "conservative" had rarely been used in Australia, and when used it tended to be used by pro-Labour forces as a term of disparagement against their opponents. Electorally, conservatism has been the most successful political brand in Australian history.

In sociology, the upper middle class of the United States is the social group constituted by higher-status members of the middle class in American society. This is in contrast to the term lower middle class, which refers to the group at the opposite end of the middle class scale. There is considerable debate as to how the upper middle class might be defined. According to Max Weber, the upper middle class consists of well-educated professionals with graduate degrees and comfortable incomes.

Wog is a racial slur used to refer, in British English, to black and South Asian people, and, in Australian English, to people from the Mediterranean region such as Southern Europeans. Whilst it is extremely derogatory in British English, in Australian English it may be considered non-offensive depending on how the word is used, due to reclamation and changing connotations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guy Standing (economist)</span> British economist (born 1948)

Guy Standing is a British labour economist. He is a professor of development studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and a co-founder of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN). Standing has written widely in the areas of labour economics, labour market policy, unemployment, labour market flexibility, structural adjustment policies and social protection. He created the term precariat to describe an emerging class of workers who are harmed by low wages and poor job security as a consequence of globalisation. Since the 2011 publication of his book The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class, his work has focused on the precariat, unconditional basic income, deliberative democracy, and the commons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Working class</span> Social class composed of those employed in lower-tier jobs

The working class includes all employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts. Working-class occupations include blue-collar jobs, and most pink-collar jobs. Members of the working class rely exclusively upon earnings from wage labour; thus, according to more inclusive definitions, the category can include almost all of the working population of industrialized economies, as well as those employed in the urban areas of non-industrialized economies or in the rural workforce.

References

  1. "Racial discrimination backdown a triumph of 'middle Australian' values". SMH . Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  2. "The big question for 2013: who will 'own' middle Australia?". SMH. 21 October 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  3. "Middle Australia is suffering". Business Spectator . Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  4. Greig, Alastair; Lewins, Frank; White, Kevin (17 February 2003). Inequality in Australia. ISBN   9780521524421 . Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  5. Pusey, Michael (23 June 2003). The Experience of Middle Australia. ISBN   9781139439343 . Retrieved 29 December 2014.