The whole concept of class is unacceptable to Canadians, and the basic assumption about social inequality is that everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed. However, what your father does is liable to fix your place on the social scale — even in Canada. This article discusses Canada’s socio-economic classes to see whether these classes are important or unimportant in Canada. So, stay with us.
Table of Contents
Canada’s socio-economic classes have four categories.
Social class is not essential in Canada. Most Canadians believe they belong to socio-economic groups and consider themselves middle class. Still, in observing differences between social classes of Canadians, most social scientists define social classes and classify people based on their wealth, power, education, occupational prestige, and satisfaction. Also, Canadians agree that society in Canada is classified into four groups, the rich, the middle class, the working class, and the poor. The following pyramid shows different social classes of Canada:
Rich or Upper Class
3 – 5 % of Canada’s population belongs to this class. People in this class tend to affect society (industry, politics, etc.) strongly. Some sociologists divide this category into:
Super Rich or Upper-upper Class
About 1% of Canada’s population is in this social class. Most members of this group have inherited their wealth.
Rich or Lower-upper Class
About 2 – 4% of Canada’s population believe they are in this class. They create their wealth and maybe business owners. Also, they are top executives of prominent corporations or successful investors.
Quebec neighborhood for upper class
Middle Class
This class of Canada’s socio-economic classes consists of 40 – 50% of Canada’s population. They earn their living from working. However, people in this group tend to have some collect wealth. Most social scientists subdivide them as follows:
Upper Middle Class
Surprisingly, this group can be divided further: One subgroup of this class is highly educated and well-paid professionals, such as doctors and lawyers or senior managers in corporations. They may come from lower middle class or even working-class families, and they usually have post-graduate degrees. Another subgroup has only high school educations. This subgroup consists of people such as successful business owners.
Average Middle Class, Middle Middle Class, or Lower Middle Class
This class, being in middle of Canada’s socio-economic classes, comprises university graduates in professions that enjoy a moderate amount of prestige (nurses, teachers, social workers, IT professionals, and the like) and more highly paid skilled tradespeople. Of course, tradespeople earn higher money than university graduates.
Working Class
A third of Canada’s population belongs to this group of Canada’s socio-economic classes. They tend to be the less well-paid and blue-collar workers who often work in a non-office setting. Their jobs have less scope for creativity and are less satisfying. This group can usually meet their goals but tend not to have any accumulated wealth. This group was harmed during an economic crisis.
Poor or Lower Class
About 15 – 20% of Canada’s population belongs to this class. This class is a combination of people who cannot work and the working poor who do work but cannot earn enough money to live on and constantly live on the edge. This group may be in poorly paid, unskilled jobs or may only find seasonal or part-time work. They have the least security and poorest health, and some may be homeless.
The following pie chart shows the percentage of each class:
Our last words on Canada’s Socio-economic classes
In this article, we noticed that although Canada is a relatively egalitarian society and believes that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities, and the gap between the richest and poorest members of the community in Canada is smaller than many countries, but there are four main socio-economic classes in Canada. We hope that our information has been interesting enough for you. If you are interested you can check this matter with economic means too, just read about it here and here!
Please inform us if you want to know more about Canada’s socio-economic classes, and we look forward to seeing your comments. You can also read more about Canada’s politics, history, economy, and geographical facts.
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Toronto_August_2017_04.jpg
- https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Social_Classes-Canada
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Place_Royale_at_night
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_Saskatchewan_Downtown.jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Downtown_Brunswick_010.jpg
- https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1962/11/17/how-the-class-system-works-in-canada
