Class wars.
#1
Banned
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2008
Location: Wigan
Posts: 33
Class wars.
What's the deal with class out there in NZ?
Is it as big a mine field as back here in the UK?
Is it as big a mine field as back here in the UK?
#4
Re: Class wars.
Or its what the average kiwi ain't got..apparently. everyone goes on about how this country lacks panache etc..thats why I love it!!! Its soooo me
Eccentric, backwards, shy of the real world...and there is no class system to speak of.
Others say this, the odd dissenter assures you that there is a sort of class system.
I have not yet met a posh kiwi!! I do not feel any type of class thing going on. You will meet the odd one who must drive the best car have the beat address and the longest boat....but thats about money aye?
I wonder what its like in Auckland? I am sure its different there. My comments are coming from a rural perspective. Things are VERY<VERY down to earth here.
And there is certainly NOT a posh accent like there is in the UK.
There is a HUGE socio-economic didvide though.
I think NZ is wonderful because it is sooooooooooooooooooooo unlike anywhere else...and thats why loads of people HATE it!!!!!!
#5
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jun 2005
Location: In a large village called Auckland
Posts: 5,249
Re: Class wars.
Aye, you're right in a way Genesis, but the class system as always is based around education and what school you go to and we're hardly likely to be rubbing shoulders with them. The old boy networks are alive and well in Auckland and Christchurch even more so. There's plenty of the ladies who lunch with whom having the 'correct' address is key.
There's definitely a huge element of he who has the most toys wins and one only has to look at the number of $130k Porsche Cayennes, multi-million dollar homes, yachts in the harbour and boys toys on the road to know that there is plenty of spare cash slopping around the monied classes.
There's definitely a huge element of he who has the most toys wins and one only has to look at the number of $130k Porsche Cayennes, multi-million dollar homes, yachts in the harbour and boys toys on the road to know that there is plenty of spare cash slopping around the monied classes.
#6
you dewty owld maan!
Joined: Oct 2005
Location: is practically perfect in every way
Posts: 5,565
Re: Class wars.
....There's definitely a huge element of he who has the most toys wins and one only has to look at the number of $130k Porsche Cayennes, multi-million dollar homes, yachts in the harbour and boys toys on the road to know that there is plenty of spare cash slopping around the monied classes.
And don't get me started on the "trade clubs" where outsiders are kept out and bad practice/incompetance pervades........
#7
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 2,225
Re: Class wars.
Market research undertaken by the Listener, using TNS to poll 1000 people nationwide, has revealed that 70 percent of New Zealanders think a social class system exists here, compared with 84 percent of respondents who believe a class system exists in England. Of those who believe it exists here, 74 percent say class is mostly based on money, but that education, where you live, your ethnicity, occupation and family background also play important roles.
There are plenty of rags-to-riches stories in New Zealand to demonstrate that, with determination, upward mobility is certainly possible. Eric Watson was a butcher’s apprentice at 16, and is now one of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs. Graeme Hart might still be able to knock dents out of his car, having once been a panelbeater, but, as New Zealand’s richest man, would certainly be able to buy a new one, instead, if he preferred. And Just Water CEO Tony Falkenstein’s two failed attempts at UE are hardly relevant to such a successful entrepreneur
#8
By name and by nature
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 1,852
Re: Class wars.
Unfortunately, the same as anywhere, money in no way equals class
#9
Banned
Joined: Dec 2005
Location: noisy land, it's still noisy & crazy wrong
Posts: 254
Re: Class wars.
Definate class system here & old boys network, worse than uk imo.
But they really have no class.
But they really have no class.
#10
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 2,225
Re: Class wars.
Most migrants won't even get to a level within NZ society where'd they'd become aware of how strong the Old Boy Network is - how they all golf together, have their bachs in the same locations and go to the same churches. Us migrants are there to do the work!
#11
you dewty owld maan!
Joined: Oct 2005
Location: is practically perfect in every way
Posts: 5,565
Re: Class wars.
some of us did and then realised where the writing was and got out to get away from the politics and "treading on eggshells" - as Pas' says it is worse in many ways than in UK and the snobbishness is really there in the open - people have not got to the point in NZ where they see how stupid they look doing it *yet*, like they have in most of Europe/US......
#12
Re: Class wars.
My Dad worked on the roads all his working life and we always owned a bach
#13
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 2,225
Re: Class wars.
It's got nothing to do with having a bach, it's having one in the right location and it being worth a lot. Usually on the Coromandel, Pauanui is a good start.
Porsche? maybe, but it has to be European. High end Audi and BMW are quite well favoured.
Porsche? maybe, but it has to be European. High end Audi and BMW are quite well favoured.
Last edited by Nerine; Apr 27th 2008 at 10:00 am.
#14
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,454
Re: Class wars.
Everyone either thinks or pretends that New Zealand is classless so it isn't really a major issue.
#15
Re: Class wars.
I think Avid is spot on.
I'm not sure how it is in the cities or in business but rurally you can expect to see the huge landowners playing cricket with the farm labourer and shearers as par the course.
I'm not sure how it is in the cities or in business but rurally you can expect to see the huge landowners playing cricket with the farm labourer and shearers as par the course.