Class identification in New Zealand: An analysis of the relationship between class position and subjective social location

Abstract

Using data collected by two New Zealand surveys in 1999 and 2009, I explore the connection between the objective social class positions of individuals and their own subjective perceptions of these circumstances. Class position is ‘operationalized’ using a newer variant of Goldthorpe’s schema, the European Socioeconomic Classification (ESeC). Through regression analyses, it is demonstrated that ‘objective’ forces contain positive predictive consequences for self-placement. More importantly, the results suggest that as predictors of subjective class, the effects of class have endured while those of education and income – understood here to represent measures of socioeconomic position – have declined. The empirical evidence produced suggests that class continues to generate subjectively salient identities, leading one to deduce that there are no grounds for stating that it is no longer a significant feature in society.