Weakest among

[takashimiike]

In un saggio sui movimenti nazionali, l'autore afferma che gli attivisti nazionalisti dei primi movimenti di questo tipo provenivano da un livello intermedio della scala sociale:

"The nationalist activists and supporters tended to be socially intermediate: weakest among the urban and rural poor and the workers, weak also among
entrepreneurs and large merchants, not to mention the higher strata of the old regimes."

Cosa si intende qui con l'aggettivo "weak"? Di certo non "debole". Forse che la loro presenza era minima tra i poveri/lavoratori e di poco superiore tra i mercanti?

 

[rrose17]

Forse che la loro presenza era minima tra i poveri/lavoratori e di poco superiore tra i mercanti?

I had to read and re-read this several times to understand what it means. You're right weak here doesn't mean "debole" but, in my opinion, it means less present, less seen. Very few of them seen among the urban and rural poor, etc.

 

[Benzene]

Leggo la frase così: "...maggiormente privi di potere tra i poveri delle città e delle campagne e i lavoratori, impotenti anche tra gli imprenditori e i grandi commercianti, per non parlare degli strati più alti dei vecchi regimi".

Bye,
Benzene

 

[theartichoke]

I agree with rrose. The key, I think, is in "tended to be socially intermediate": in other words, the activists and supporters came from the middle classes. There were few of them among the poor/working classes, and few among the rich/upper classes. It's a very odd way of putting it, though.

Edit: my guess is that the author used the word "supporters" and, without re-reading the sentence, assumed that he/she was clearly talking about "support": support for the nationalist activists was "weakest" among the lower classes, and "weak" among the wealthy. That makes perfect sense--the problem is simply that "support" is nowhere in the sentence, and "weak supporters" are a very different thing from "weak support."