Abstract
Given their overwhelming presence in colonial Australia and Canada, the most pervasive impact on national cultural values appears to have come from the Anglo-Celtic Catholic and Protestant communities, whose impact on the evolution of national values, culture, and national character was profound. As the contribution of the Irish Catholic sensibility to Australian irreverence, rebelliousness, and egalitarianism—or desire for flatter hierarchies—is evident in such Australian practices as “knocking,” “cutting down tall poppies,” and even the social phenomenon of “mateship”—features of Australian culture absent in Canada—the significant number of Irish Catholics in Australia is the critical factor that guided Australian culture in a different direction compared to Canada where Irish Catholics, as a percentage of the Canadian population, did not possess the same cultural force.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
John Higley, Desley Deacon, and Don Smart, Elites in Australia (London, UK: Routledge, 1979), 77.
S. Encel, Equality and Authority: A Study of Class, Status and Power in Australia (Melbourne, VIC: Cheshire, 1970), 178–79.
John Porter, The Vertical Mosaic: An Analysis of Social Class and Power in Canada (Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 1965), xii–xiii.
Wallace Clement, “John Porter and the Development of Sociology in Canada,” Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology 18, no. 5 (1981): 584.
Wallace Clement, “Elites,” in The Canadian Encyclopedia: Year 2000 Edition, ed. James H. Marsh (Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart, 1999), 755–56.
It is useful to note that, in Australia, the definition and requirements of social status had changed from England. The social distinction most accessible to the would-be colonist was that of developing into a “gentleman.” As Australian historian John Hirst notes, gentlemen wore distinctive dress of “frockcoat, top hat, kid gloves” and were publicly recognized by other gentlemen; they were saluted by policemen, addressed by the title “Esquire” in formal correspondence, and workers were expected to address them as “Sir.” While the traditional English standard of a “gentleman” reflected one’s connections to a good family and ownership of lands, in Australia, observes Hirst, “the balance changed. The core of true gentlemen was small and not self-sustaining; the claimants at the edges numerous. There were enough true gentlemen to retain the rank’s traditional prestige, but too few, owning too few resources, for the traditional criteria to maintain a commanding influence.” Hirst points out, “Everyone in the colonies—including those with the best claims to be gentlemen—was closely involved in money-making. This was traditionally forbidden to the English gentleman, who could invest his fortune to advantage but was essentially a man of leisure, not preoccupied with money matters.” Hence, the status of a “gentleman” was held by anyone in a certain position of the occupational hierarchy or who possessed independent means. John Hirst, “Egalitarianism,” in Australian Cultural History, ed. S.L. Goldberg and F.B. Smith (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 61–62.
Peter C. Newman, The Canadian Establishment: Volume One (Toronto, ON: Penguin, 1999), 386.
James L. Heap, “Conceptual and Theoretical Problems in the Vertical Mosaic,” Canadian Review of Sociology & Anthropology 9, no. 2 (1972): 176–87.
John Porter, “Conceptual and Theoretical Problems in the Vertical Mosaic: A Rejoinder,” Canadian Review of Sociology & Anthropology 9, no. 2 (1972): 188.
Peter C. Newman, “Business Elites,” in The Canadian Encyclopedia: Year 2000 Edition, ed. James H. Marsh (Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart, 1999), 334.
Graham Maddox, “The Australian Labor Party,” in Political Parties in Australia, ed. Graeme Starr, Keith Richmond, and Graham Maddox (Richmond, VIC: Heinemann Educational Australia, 1978), 168–69.
Russel Ward, The Australian Legend (Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press, 1958), 38–39.
Robert A.J. McDonald, Making Vancouver: Class, Status, and Social Boundaries, 1863–1913 (Vancouver, BC: UBC Press, 1996), 233.
Freda Hawkins, Critical Years in Immigration: Canada and Australia Compared, 2nd ed. (Montreal, QC & Kingston, ON: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1991), 8.
Peter C. Newman, The Canadian Establishment, Volume Two: The Acquisitors (Toronto, ON: Penguin, 1999), 50–55.
R. Henderson, Ninety Years in the Master’s Service (Edinburgh, UK: Andrew Elliott, 1911), 222;
J.T. Reilly, Fifty Years in Western Australia (Perth, WA: Sands and McDougall, 1908), 31;
Douglas Pike, Paradise of Dissent (London, UK: Longmans Green, 1957), 492;
Walter W. Phillips, Defending “A Christian Country”: Churchmen and Society in New South Wales in the 1880s and After (St. Lucia, QLD: University of Queensland, 1981), 17;
quoted in Hans Mol, The Faith of Australians (Sydney, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 1985), 165.
Richard N. Spann, “The Catholic Vote in Australia,” in Catholics and the Free Society: An Australian Symposium, ed. H. Mayer (Melbourne, VIC: Cheshire, 1961), 123;
H.Y. Tien, Social Mobility and Controlled Fertility (New Haven, CT: College and University Press, 1965), 65; quoted in Mol, Faith ofAustralians, 166.
R.E.N. Twopenny, Town Life in Australia (London, UK: Elliott Stock, 1883), 116–17, quoted in Mol, Faith ofAustralians, 166.
Seymour Martin Lipset, “Social Class” in Social Stratification: Canada, ed. James E. Curtis and William G. Scott (Scarborough, ON: Prentice-Hall, 1973), 26.
K.S. Inglis, “Religious Behaviour,” in Australian Society: A Sociological Introduction, ed. A.F. Davies, and S. Encel, 2nd ed. (Melbourne, VIC: F.W. Cheshire, 1970), 440.
Patrick O’Farrell, The Catholic Church and Community: An Australian History, 3rd rev. ed. (Kensington, NSW: New South Wales University Press, 1992), 17–18.
Michael Hogan, The Sectarian Strand: Religion in Australian History (Ringwood, VIC: Penguin, 1987), 138–39.
Patrick Ford, Cardinal Moran and the A.L.P. (Melbourne, VIC: Melbourne University Press, 1966), 280–81.
Paul Smyth, “Reclaiming Community? From Welfare Society to Welfare State in Australian Catholic Social Thought,” Australian Journal of Politics and History 49, no. 1 (2003): 19.
A.E. Cahill, “Cardinal Moran’s Politics,” The Journal of Religious History 15, no. 4 (1989): 525–31. Quoted in Smyth, “Reclaiming Community?” 19.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2015 Arthur J. Wolak
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wolak, A.J. (2015). Class and Identity. In: The Development of Managerial Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137475633_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137475633_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-50187-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-47563-3
eBook Packages: Palgrave Business & Management CollectionBusiness and Management (R0)