ABSTRACT
In order to understand the phenomenon of stratification, this study has developed and employed a theoretical framework which makes analytical distinctions between various aspects of social reality - between the social and cultural realms; the hierarchies of class, status and power; and the descriptive and evaluative components of ideology. In contemporary Rangama/Devideniya, for example, the reluctance of even the poorest villagers to work on a 'rich' man's land, despite the possibility of material gain, can be traced directly to the influence of ideology. As this study's analysis of class ideology has shown, it is simply inaccurate to describe the lower classes in Rangama/Devideniya as victims of mystification: that they are in some sense unaware of the real conditions of their existence. The examination of class ideology in this study shows that resentment and antagonism of the rural poor towards the landed elite should not be interpreted as class consciousness.
