ABSTRACT
Despite the lack of detailed empirical studies of industrial workers in sub-Saharan Africa, commentaries on new forms of social stratification have attempted to place the industrial labour force in its appropriate position vis-á-vis other socio-economic groups. Such commentaries have tended to be impressionistic, but together they testify to the economic, social, and political significance of this highly strategic population of wage-earners in predominantly agrarian societies. 2
