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 still be identified, and some of them are coping resiliently with economic globalisation and other challenges. However, many factors in the situations in which they have found themselves- technological dependency, the dominance of large-scale enterprises, the bureaucratisation of the rules of the gamegenerally restricted them to secondary roles in economic evolution. Their educational aspiration for their children have been likely to divert most of these into bureaucratic or professional occupations. Moreover, in many cases, they have belonged to cultural minorities or alien immigrant groups encountering resistance once they become economically conspicuous.
The present-day social structure in developing countries is punctuated by
