Het begrip middenstand: funkties en dysfunkties van een terminologische verwarring

Samenvatting

An examination of the meaning of the term 'Me,' with special reference to Belgium. There is a long-standing confusion about the meaning of the term Me. As early as 1911, the Italian Scarelli distinguished between an economic, a statistical and a social Me. The dysfunctional aspects of this terminological confusion were noted in Belgium in 1937 by E. Mahaim, director of the Solvay Instit of Sociol, and F. Collin, Royal Commissioner for the Me. An account is given of a Belgian controversy on this subject in the 1950's started by Moulin and Aerts. It is concluded that the Me has 2 chief social functions: it acts as a buffer and link, and it also acts as a social lift. Definitions of the Me will have to take into account these 2 functions. I. Langnas.