'Class in Australia' book launch

'Class in Australia'

Monash University Publishing is thrilled to announce the publication of Class in Australia, edited by NTEU members Steven Threadgold and Jessica Gerrard.

At the book's launch in February, Emerita Professor Raewyn Connell from the University of Sydney stated:

'Perhaps I am less optimistic that intellectual work … can change the world in the short term. But in time it does have an effect, indeed many effects. With what tools we can find, it’s important to keep trying. The struggle continues.'

At a time of deepening inequality, Class in Australia features interviews with Raewyn Connell and Larissa Behrendt and brings together a range of new and original research for a timely examination of class relations, labour exploitation, and the changing formations of work in contemporary Australian society.

Two decades since it was claimed that class is dead, social, economic and cultural inequalities are rising. Though Australia is often described as a ‘lucky country’ with a strong economy, we are witness to intensifying inequality with entrenched poverty and the growth of precarious and insecure labour. The disconnect of the rusted-on Labor voter and the rise of far-right politics suggest there is an urgent need to examine the contemporary functions of class relations.

Class analysis in Australia has always had a contested position. The prominence of scholarship from the UK and US has often meant class analysis in Australia has had little to say about its settler colonial history and the past and present dynamics of race and racism that are deeply embedded in social and labour relations.

In the post-war turn away from Marx and subsequent embracing of Bourdieu, much sociological research on class has focused on explorations of consumption and culture. Longstanding feminist critiques of the absence of gendered labour in class analysis also pose challenges for understanding and researching class. Contributors are Jasmine Ali, Tom Barnes, Rose Butler, David Farrugia, Hannah Forsyth, Jessica Gerrard, Christina Ho, Keith Jacobs, Julie McLeod, Barry Morris, Greg Noble, Henry Paternoster, Barbara Pini, Laura Rodriguez Castro, Penny Rossiter, Steven Threadgold, Eve Vincent, Deborah Warr, Mark Western, and Lyn Yates. Plus interviews with Raewyn Connell and Larissa Behrendt. ◆

ISBN (pb): 978-1-922464-89-7

NTEU member discount offer!

Monash University Publishing are pleased to offer NTEU members a 20% discount from the RRP $39.95 when you purchase the book via their online shop, publishing.monash.edu/product/class-in-australia

Use this code: NTEUCLASS20

It should be applied on the cart page before the checkout. The code is valid until 31 December.

‘This book is a powerful and vibrant study of the complex realities of class in modern Australia.’ Sally McManus, ACTU Secretary

‘The definitive book on class for this generation. We have never needed the debate more than now.’ Dr Meredith Burgmann AM

‘This captivating volume dives deep into how class has shaped our nation.’ Dr Andrew Leigh MP