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Hungary SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Before World War II, Hungarian society was
characterized by
striking inequalities in economic and social status
(see Social Changes
, ch. 1). Landownership was the principal source of
wealth, because the country was still predominantly rural
and
agricultural. The poverty of millions of landless laborers
stood
in stark contrast to the wealth of a small elite of
landowners,
bankers, and prominent businessmen. Early efforts at
industrialization provided few alternative employment
opportunities for the impoverished agricultural labor
force.
The destruction and turmoil of World War II greatly
disrupted
the traditional social structure. After the communists
assumed
power in 1947, society was in flux for almost two decades
(see Postwar Hungary
, ch. 1). The aim of the new government was
to
replace the old order with a new social structure that was
in
line with Marxist-Leninist ideology. The pace of change
slowed in
the early 1960s as the government reduced its efforts at
social
engineering. By the early 1970s, society had settled into
a
discernible pattern in which clear-cut social strata were
beginning to reemerge. Changes that continued to affect
the
social system during the 1970s and 1980s resulted largely
from
economic growth and urbanization rather than from the
efforts of
communist social planners.
Data as of September 1989
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