I? 
23 
Thus there are grades linked by a direct teacher - pupil 
relation, and the teacher-pupil ratio corresponds to the 
span of control in management. Indeed, the "teaching" in 
a rather general sense plays a large role in production 
and all economic activities; to a large extent the 
function of the skilled person is giving (specialized) 
information and advice, or being ready to give information 
and advice, serving as a repository or "memory" for 
certain special knowledge. This will naturally establish 
hierarchies of skill, with different grades. 
The diffusion of new knowledge from the researcher to 
the routine production will tend to proceed over a 
series of gradations of "skill". This scale, however, 
interlocks in a curious way with others: The diffusion 
of technical knowledge will have to go un the managerial 
' 
scale at some points! 
There are also skills, however, which do not need diffusion 
to be applied: The highly specialized surgeon applies his 
knowledge directly to the consumer, his patient. 
This brings us to another group of income earners: the 
stars. They are in direct contact (in a sense) with their 
audience, and owing to the mass media, their "range" is, 
or can be, very wide. A hierarchy of actors etc. has 
of course always existed owing to their different talent