UGC NET Sociology Q47

Question

Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow
The social structure of most developing countries no longer consists of a tiny upper class confronting a very large and mainly rural lower class, as earlier stereotypes had it. Intermediate strata have grown and diversified until they are, in at least some respects (recruitment to position of power, control of major political movements) dominant. In almost all of these countries, however, the 'middle strata' remain minorities (sometimes very small minorities) and have not achieved sufficient homogeneity of characteristics and interests to entitle them to the label of class. The key differences between them and the middle classes in the past of the countries that are now industrialized or developed seem to be the following: first, the much greater importance of the role of formal education in giving access to middle (as well as upper) status; second, the much greater importance of salaried employment, particularly in the public sector, in relation to self-employment in the professions or in small businesses; third, the presence of the 'demonstration effect' from the high income countries continually tending to stretch consumption aspirations beyond income capacity. Independent, frugal, entrepreneurially minded middle groups can [truncated]

Accepted Answer

1