ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors aims to consider the horizontal structure, focusing the main questions regarding it from the point of view of control of the means of production. Changes are taking place both in the horizontal and vertical structures because of industrial development, increased mechanization, the rationalization of the production cycle, and the introduction of automation. The notion of horizontal structure takes back to what the authors said in the preceding chapter about social classification and stratification. Factory workers and the like who, like office workers, depend for their living on work for or under the control of members of the upper stratum. The authors conclude that the upper stratum has been strengthened and the mobility between strata has been increased by some strictly economic factors, by the new spirit of enterprise and initiative, and by the osmosis between the old and new values and patterns of behaviour.
