This study investigates the stability of a class of radiating viscous self-gravitating stars with axial symmetry having anisotropic pressure. We use perturbation technique to establish the perturbed form of the Einstein field equations and dynamical equations. The instability range in the Newtonian and post-Newtonian eras has been analyzed by constructing the collapse equation. It is found that the adiabatic index has a key role in the discussion of instability ranges which depends upon the physical parameters, i.e., energy density, anisotropic pressure and shear viscosity of the fluid and heat flux. We conclude that the shear viscosity decreases the instability range and makes the system more stable.