ABSTRACT
The economy of the Rangama and Devideniya community during the baseline period could, according to this definition, be described as a peasant economy. If the 'value' of an asset is considered to be synonymous with its cash or market value, at the turn of the century the population of the Rangama/Devideniya community could best be divided into classes on the basis of ownership of high land. Based upon this perception of the 'value' of an asset, it appears that differential ownership of paddy land was more significant than high land for the demarcation of class categories in the baseline period. The 'middle farmers' appear to have had little contact or need for interaction with either those higher or lower than themselves in the class hierarchy. The separate analysis of the class hierarchy has made possible an understanding of the way inequalities of wealth were, at the turn of the century, related to the other dimensions of stratification.
