rable gap exists in the income, prestige, and
commensurate standard of living between the skilled worker and the
intelligentsia. The gap can be breached only by acquiring higher
education. The skilled worker, however, enjoys considerable material
advantages over the lowest levels of society by virtue of his important
position in the economy. His prestige, although higher than that of
unskilled workers, differs little from that of the lower level
white-collar personnel because of the low esteem in which manual work
continues to be held.

The level of gradation in material rewards of peasants, unskilled
workers, and lower level white-collar personnel is very slight. The
difference among these groups is mainly one of prestige and opportunity
for advancement. The first step up the social ladder is to leave
agriculture and join the industrial labor force. Then, through education
and training, one can advance to the various levels of skill and their
respective income levels and benefits. Despite their lack of skill,
lower level white-collar personnel hold a higher position on the social
scale than other unskilled persons, principally because of the prestige
attached to nonmanual work.

The main avenue for upward mobility is education. Political
considerations, however, influence both accessibility to education and
accessibility to jobs that confer higher social status. Admission to
educational facilities beyond the required minimum is strictly
controlled and manipulated to achieve desired political, social, and
economic goals (see ch. 6). The emphasis on educational credentials for
upper level jobs limits the possibility of upward mobility through skill
or competence alone. On-the-job training, however, does provide a means
for mobility within the industrial labor force.

Partly as a result of conscious government effort and partly as a
natural consequence of rapid economic expansion, upward mobility has
been considerable since the end of World War II. In the early years of
communist rule, this upward mobility was accompanied by a significant
downward mobility of members of the former middle and upper classes who
lost their property and their jobs and were forced to take up
occupations at the lower end of the social scale. By the end of the
1960s the social structure seemed to be stabilizing. The restructuring
desired by the communist rulers had been accomplished, and the
intelligentsia had grown to the point where it coul