Hierarchy of Human Worth: Australia’s Class System, Circa 2026

James Ayres

3 min read

·

Just now

--

Listen

Share

Press enter or click to view image in full size

Introduction and disclaimer

Below is a “field map” — or framework — of the Commonwealth of Australia’s class system as it manifests in 2026. While Australia is nominally a liberal democracy structured according to Westminster political theory, in reality, the country is deeply classist with growing inequality.

This is not an essay, and I do not care for citations, statistics, or quotes. This is because power structures, interest groups, institutions, and bureaucracies excel at dismissing and absorbing “moral outrage”. Put simply, they do not care and nothing changes. The framework is purely for clarity, not credibility.

Interestingly, it can be applied to other liberal democracies of the so-called “Anglosphere”, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and, to a certain extent, New Zealand.

Map of Australia’s class system

1. Ruling class: “the elites”

This is a loosely-aligned, informal ecosystem of powerful interest groups who wield direct influence in shaping the country politically, economically, and bureaucratically. Every country on Earth has elite networks, sometimes known as a “power elite” (C. Wright Mills).

It is not a centralised body, rather, its members are in frequent conflict with each other but stay de facto united on the basis of mutual benefit and codependency. That is, maintaining legitimacy, exceptionalism, status, wealth, influence, and dominance — among other things.

Examples of members of Australia’s ecosystem include influential politicians and public servants, business and economic executives, corporate media executives and other “opinion shapers”, certain billionaires, senior judicial officers and lawyers, think tank and lobbying groups, influential consultants and financial advisers, and influential leaders of the religious institutions.

2. Praetorian class: “the security forces”

This consists of senior officials of the police, military, and intelligence agencies. I chose not to include them in the ruling class as they are, in my opinion, subservient to it despite having autonomy themselves. This is because the ruling class uses the police for both protection and to control the hierarchy, especially the lowest rungs and certain “problematic populations” (Loïc Wacquant).

Policing in Australia (and elsewhere) is less about “crimefighting” and more about class control and social control, regardless of notions of “police operational independence” (Greg Marquis). What matters is how it manifests in practice.

As a result, the security forces are blessed with a high degree of legal impunity, privilege, and secrecy, all of which fall under the umbrellas of elite exceptionalism and the state’s “monopoly on violence” (Max Weber).

3. Upper class: “the rich”

These are wealth and asset holders, but not necessarily powerbrokers or “shot callers” (to use the prison expression). They are the direct beneficiaries of the ruling class and remain deeply invested in the stability of the system (status quo).

4. Upper middle class

These are high income earners and property owners. They are financially independent and invested in the stability of the system.

5. Debt class

These are, in my opinion, the former middle and working classes. While often earning comfortable salaries, they are increasingly burdened by high mortgage repayments, rents, fines, and other expenses imposed by the state and capitalist structures.

6. Lower class

These are low income earners living in precarious circumstances, but who are still typically able to maintain functional lives.

7. Carceral underclass

These are the destitute, over-policed, and incarcerated: those subject to the worst of interpersonal, state, structural, and bureaucratic violence (also known as procedural misery).

It includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, the homeless, those with severe mental health challenges, substance users, the disabled with very low quality of life, children and young people in the foster care system, welfare dependents, and others.

Police, courts, corrections, and so-called social services “manage” the underclass with cascading regimes of control and punishment, while the root causes of severe disadvantage and criminality are not addressed — as evidenced by indigenous mass incarceration — thus ensuring the cycle continues indefinitely. Nor do meaningful programs for rehabilitation, education, skill-building, and post-release support appear to exist in the criminal justice system.

Ironically, the carceral state (Michel Foucault) causes severe harm even to its enforcers, as evidenced by high rates of suicide, post-traumatic stress, and depression among police and correctional officers.

Concluding remarks

Every country on Earth has a “hierarchy of human worth”. Australia’s version is not accidental or broken — it is functioning as intended.