20th Century
The 20th century brought several changes to the social structure. By the 1940s when Ceylon gained Independence from the British (in 1948) there were four social groups. Upper class made up primary of landowners, the Upper middle class of educated professionals holding traditional jobs such as Lawyers, Doctors, Army officers, Academics, senior Civil Servants and police officers; and merchants. The political leaders of the new Dominion of Ceylon came from these to classes. Lower middle class made up persons who were educated but held less prestigious, but respected jobs such lower level public servants, policemen, teachers.
This order changed dramatically in the 1970s due to the land reforms brought on by the government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike who limited private owner ship of land to 50 acres (200,000 m2) and ownership of private houses to two (later changed), excess land was nationalized along with many industries. This rendered the wealthiest who made up the Upper class and Upper middle class who greatly dependent on a secondary income void of their income and with it their power. The following the failure of the socialist economic drive of the 1970s the new government of J R Jayewardene open up the counties economy to free market reforms. This along with the civil war saw major change in the social structure.
Read more about this topic: Social Structure Of Sri Lanka
Famous quotes containing the word century:
“The geometry of landscape and situation seems to create its own systems of time, the sense of a dynamic element which is cinematising the events of the canvas, translating a posture or ceremony into dynamic terms. The greatest movie of the 20th century is the Mona Lisa, just as the greatest novel is Gray’s Anatomy.”
—J.G. (James Graham)