In supposedly egalitarian New Zealand, the wealthiest 10% own 60% of all the country's assets.

Their lives are also increasingly separated from those of other New Zealanders, characterised by residence in desirable 'grammar zones', a growing 'ambition flight' from decile one schools, access to homeownership through parental support, donations to political parties, and other forms of influence.

Do these trends herald the regrowth of class divisions in New Zealand and an increasingly segregated society?

In this, the 2020 J.D. Stout Annual Lecture, writer and commentator Max Rashbrooke will use previously unreleased data and interviews with both wealthy and poor New Zealanders to illuminate the contours of a changing country.