Overview

This section explores the key terms relating to class, class-inclusive language, and the state of play for class in Australian workplaces.

Table of Contents

Key terms

DCA uses the term ‘class’ rather than related concepts such as ‘socio-economic status’, ‘social mobility’, and ‘social origin’.

Social class (or ‘class’): DCA defines class as a person’s social standing compared to other people in Australia, based on factors such as their wealth, income, education, occupation, connections, networks, hobbies, and leisure activities. All these factors combine to determine a person’s status, power and/or position – that is, their social standing or social class.

Importantly, our definition recognises that our wealth, income, education, occupation and family background provide each of us with differing levels of:

  • economic capital (income, education and wealth)
  • social capital (connections and networks)1
  • cultural capital (hobbies and leisure activities) with which to get ahead in the world.2

These different forms of capital interact and reinforce each other to determine a person’s social class.3

Socio-economic status (SES): SES is a measure of current economic position based on someone’s income, education, and occupation.

Social mobility: Refers to how a person’s social class improves or declines relative to that of their parents, or throughout their lifetime (measured via earnings, income, social class, health and/or education ).4

Social origin: A term that refers to “social class, socio-occupational category and caste”5 – it is often seen in anti-discrimination legislation and so has legal implications both in Australia and internationally.

Classism: A form of discrimination and prejudice based on social class. It refers to biased and unfair treatment people face because of their economic status, perceived wealth, education level, or occupation. Classism perpetuates inequality by privileging certain classes while marginalising others, leading to systemic inequities.6

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Class
The Case for Action

References

  1. P Bourdieu and J-C Passeron, Reproduction in education, society and culture, 2 .ed., reprinted, Theory, culture & society, Sage Publ, London, 2000; Diemer et al., ‘Best Practices in Conceptualizing and Measuring Social Class in Psychological Research’; MW Kraus, PK Piff, and D Keltner, ‘Social Class as Culture: The Convergence of Resources and Rank in the Social Realm’, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2011, 20(4):246–250, doi:10.1177/0963721411414654; SR Martin and S Côté, ‘Social Class Transitioners: Their Cultural Abilities and Organizational Importance’, Academy of Management Review, 2019, 44(3):618–642, doi:10.5465/amr.2017.0065; M Rubin, O Evans, and R McGuffog, ‘Social Class Differences in Social Integration at University: Implications for Academic Outcomes and Mental Health’, in J Jetten & K Peters (eds), The Social Psychology of Inequality, Springer International Publishing, Cham, 2019, pp 87–102, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-28856-3_6.
  2. Bourdieu & Passeron, Reproduction in education, society and culture; M Savage, F Devine, N Cunningham, M Taylor, Y Li, J Hjellbrekke, B Le Roux, S Friedman, and A Miles, ‘A New Model of Social Class? Findings from the BBC’s Great British Class Survey Experiment’, Sociology, 2013, 47(2):219–250, doi:10.1177/0038038513481128; Sheppard & Biddle, Social Class in Australia: Beyond the ‘working’ and ‘middle’ classes.
  3. Bourdieu & Passeron, Reproduction in education, society and culture.
  4. OECD, Social mobility and equal opportunity, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, n.d., accessed 29 January 2025, https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/sub-issues/social-mobility-and-equal-opportunity.html.
  5. Q&As on business, discrimination and equality, International Labour Organization, 2012, accessed 13 March 2025, https://www.ilo.org/resource/qas-business-discrimination-and-equality-0.
  6. J Scott and G Marshall, A Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd edn, Oxford University Press, 2009, doi:10.1093/acref/9780199533008.001.0001.
  7. Our Class Expert Advisory Panel included people with lived experience of class marginalisation and classism, academic and industry subject matter experts, and diversity practitioners working in Australian organisations.
  8. Roger Wilkins, Ferdi Botha, Inga Laß and Kyle Peyton (2024) The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey: Selected Findings from Waves 1 to 22. Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
  9. Davidson P, Bradbury B, Wong M & Hill T (2023), Inequality in Australia 2023: Overview. Australian Council of Social Service and UNSW Sydney.
  10. J. O’Donnell, Q. Guan, with T. Prentice, 2024: Mapping Social Cohesion, Scanlon Foundation Research Institute, 2024.
  11. https://scanloninstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Mapping-Social-Cohesion-2024-Report.pdf page 6