The range and content of symbolic resources in terms of which alternative life orientations were partially articulated expanded most rapidly after 1860, as new situations disrupted old expectations at an accelerated pace. The interplay between formal educational experience and styles of religious expression, whether awakened, educated and/or secular, continued to vary according to strata and region. Evidence for these plausible assertions remains fragmentary. My objective in this and the following chapter will be to collate and interpret some of the available data bearing on: (1) elite literacy, educational experience, and styles of religious expression and (2) in chapter 5, certain changes in the social organization and content of mass literacy production in rural areas, including some regional contrasts. These variations will be related to the patterns of lay mobilization described in chapter 3, with a view to exploring some possible linkages between them.

The four levels of social stratification distinguished by Dagfinn Mannsaaker in his study of the Norwegian clergy provides a particularly concise and coherent framework within which the most crucial variables shaping these relationships may be described. His classification is based on three major criteria: (1) occupation, including the levels of formal education required to gain access; (2) the amount and source of income from property or work; (3) what he terms “socio-political status”, a close equivalent to Max Weber's concept of power.