Mass, Class, and the Industrial Community: A Comparative Analysis of Managers, Businessmen, and Workers

The data suggest the concept "middle mass" may have limited utility in the industrial community, and that urbanization, industrialization, and bureaucratization may not completely homogenize or level, but they may enlarge the middle strata of the community and further modify its social structure by creating a new upper stratum.

Abstract

A rough test of the homogeneity-heterogeneity inconsistency between "mass society" and stratification theories was conducted by comparing 332 hourly paid workers, independent businessmen, and corporate managers on a number of variables selected because they had been used in discussions of both mass society and stratification. The research was conducted in a community having recently undergone urbanization, bureaucratization, and industrialization, processes usually associated with the development of a "middle mass." The data suggest (1) the concept "middle mass" may have limited utility in the industrial community, and (2) that urbanization, industrialization, and bureaucratization may not completely homogenize or level, but they may enlarge the middle strata of the community and further modify its social structure by creating a new upper stratum.