Answer

The modernization and bureaucratization of the State wen hand in hand with a considerable expansion of the labour market for non-manual workers and professionals – the so-called service sector. A direct consequence of a changeover to Dutch in public life (public administration, education, the justice system, army) and in state-owned companies (e.g. railway) and the associated changes in particular professions (e.g. the legal profession) was that Dutch-speaking (lower) middle-class people had much better professional prospects. Granting Flanders a monolingual status would put a stop to the unfair favouring of French-speakers in appointments and promotions, which was still in evidence in some official institutions in Flanders. And imposing bilingualism on local authorities in Brussels and on the civil service in the ministries would be to the advantage of Dutch-speakers, given that few French-speakers knew Dutch. A final explanation for the positive reception of de Raet among the social groups mentioned, is that he and others assigned them a higher social status in the Flemish society of the future.

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