Bogans are on the increase – and that's not a bad thing

Bogans are on the increase – and not everyone in New Zealand thinks that’s a bad thing, according to a study at The University of Auckland.

First-year Linguistics students at the University investigated what Aucklanders understood by the word “bogan” – where bogans live, how they look and whether being a bogan is a good or bad thing.

“The results point to a clear generational split in how we view bogans,” says Professor of Linguistics, Miriam Meyerhoff. “New Zealanders under the age of 30 are more likely to consider being a bogan a good thing compared with those over 30. Younger Kiwis are more likely to say being a bogan is about individualism and identity, being ‘who you are’, while older Kiwis (if they know the word at all) are more likely to see it as something negative.”

The study also explored whether a woman could be a bogan, and whether rich people could be bogans. Again, younger Kiwis were more likely to have an inclusive definition, saying women certainly could be bogans. Their older counterparts were not so certain about this, tending to say that bogans are male.

“What this means is that, among the younger generation, their world potentially contains more bogans than the older generation’s.”

As far as wealth goes, there’s more of a socioeconomic divide.

People generally agree that there is nothing to stop a bogan becoming rich, but there seems more doubt as to whether someone who grows up rich can be a bogan.

Younger respondents had a very clear and distinctly Outrageous Fortune image of bogans – mullet hair and black singlets for the men, boots and miniskirts for the women, petrolheads driving Holden Commodores.

“Unsurprisingly,” says Miriam, “Aucklanders see West Auckland and Hamilton as the natural home for bogan-dom.”