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Australian Social Philosophy

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Australian Social Philosophy

The strength of a nation is the philosophy behind it, the simple idea holds its

imaginary boundaries. There can be no nation without people no matter how rich the land

may be. A good portion of the global population must congregate and assume one flag under

common law for a nation to be born. Today, many nations are founded on the idea of freedom

having fought their way out of colonial influence. Yet in some parts the colonists became the

nation and found their meaning in different ideas. For instance Australia, a nation born out of

efficient settlement of invaders would find her philosophy in the blissful corridors of equality.

Indeed fairness has long been the central theme of the land since becoming a sovereign

nation..

The egalitarian dream

Indeed, egalitarianism is the Australian spirit as the people seem obsessed with an

equal society. The national anthem is titled Advance Australia Fair, and the lyrics work

around the idea of not only freedom but fairness in the land. Such is the depth of the

egalitarian philosophy in the land that every person that is patriotic enough to learn the

national anthem will have this wonderful guide to fairness with them. It is essentially part of

the Australian national identity. The notion continues into the government structure and how

the laws and resources work toward this reality. Each person only has a single vote regardless

of their social stance. One of the major inhibitors to equality is the knowledge gap availed by

educational differences. To fight this vice Australia introduced public schools at all levels of

education. Now regardless of one's background people in Australia can access the full

educational package and enhance their lives.

Despite great efforts to keep inequality at bay the modern day trends still persist in the

nation. Today the global wealth distribution patterns reveal a sad truth that reflects the case in

each country and Australia is no exception. The top ten percent of the world control more
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assets than some third world countries. In Australia the gap between the rich and the poor is

significantly wide despite government efforts to reduce it (Panza & William, 2019). So in a

critical opinion Australia is only halfway there when it comes to an egalitarian society. It is a

difficult path and perhaps the nation may learn from indigenous tribes such as the Aborigines

on how to create such a society.

Functionalism and Marxism

There are several theories that have the potential of guiding a society, including

functionalist and Marxist theories. The functionalist approach sees the society as a

composition of working parts that comes together to form an effective machine. In this sense

not all parts of the machine are equal as each must serve a specific function. In this case

functionalists see the need for inequality in society (Ormerod, 2020). They proclaim several

benefits including, social unity, motivation and specialisation. The differences in society

make room for hierarchical structure that promotes streamlined leadership. When everyone

knows who is incharge it is easier to make decisions and keep the society safe. This is how

unity is enhanced in a functionalist society, each person must play their role or risk the entire

society. Motivation comes from the will to rise higher among the ranks, individuals at the

lower end of the hierarchy are bound to feel the need to be better and thus work harder to

achieve their goals. Specialisation allows the distribution of tasks and responsibilities

according to one's capabilities. In a functionalist society the best performers have the

opportunity to specialise thereby creating the best products.

The marxist theory is cut from a different cloth, the school of thought is bent on

viewing society from a conflict point of view. Marxism focuses on the struggle between the

rich and the poor promising a revolution if the situation goes on (Traverso, 2021). The

marxist is aware of the sources of inequality and points them out. They believe that class and

materialism are at the core of inequality in the world. In retrospect the whole idea of class
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division embodied inequality, the fact that there should be segments of the society placed

above others is unfair. Marxist believe that class division should be done away with for the

sake of a healthy society. Another reason for inequality according to the marxist is

materialism culture. When people are focused on wealth as the only source of power in

society inequality grows. This is because people will never have the same amount of wealth.

Australia working on equality

The Australian government has put considerable effort into achieving equality within

her borders. It is clearly a matter of national concern that each member of the community

receives their fair share of opportunities to wealth, health and education. The government on

its part has done what any government would do when combating such an abstract problem.

The formation of anti discriminatory laws and provision of public social amenities include

some of its efforts. Some notable projects include the medicare program that serves the entire

nation. Through this platform citizens contribute to their own health insurance through taxes

and in return everyone gets access to free and affordable healthcare.

Toward the plight of indigenous people, Australia has shown great empathy and

concern for the sins of the past. In order to reconcile the differing parties the Australian prime

minister in 2008 gave a public formal apology to the indigenous people for the injustice they

suffered (Bromfield & Page,2020). This show of respect made it clear that the government is

leading the reconciliation efforts. As follow up the, ‘closing the gap’ strategy was

implemented to work out disparities among the Torres strait islanders, some foreigners and

aborigines on matters of wealth, health and education.

To sum it all up the nation of Australia is built on the foundations of fairness, it is part

of the national identity. The Australian government has made significant efforts towards

creating an egalitarian society although there is room for improvement. We can say that

Australia merely aspires to be egalitarian although working from a capitalist angle. It seems
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to follow a functionalist order in which equality serves the greater good of the society as a

whole. The marxist theory serves as a warning to any nation that over indulges in capitalism

despites its many benefits.Through measures such as medicare, public schools and closing the

gap strategy the nation is working on reducing the gap between the lowest and highest ranks

in society.
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References

Bromfield, N., & Page, A. (2020). How is Australianness represented by prime ministers?:

Prime ministerial and party rhetoric of race, class, and gender on Australia Day and

Anzac Day, 1990–2017. Australian Journal of Political Science, 55(2), 191-210.

Panza, L., & Williamson, J. G. (2019). Always Egalitarian: Australian Earnings Inequality

1870-19101. Australian National University.

Ormerod, R. (2020). The history and ideas of sociological functionalism: Talcott Parsons,

modern sociological theory, and the relevance for OR. Journal of the Operational

Research Society, 71(12), 1873-1899.

Traverso, E. (2021). Marxism. In The Routledge Companion to Historical Theory (pp. 34-

49). Routledge.