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(1) in the 1890s, most americans were struggling to reach a middle-class lifestyle. (2) by the 1990s, in contrast, an overwhelming majority had achieved the middle class but were either losing it or struggling to hold on to it. (3) in the 1890s, government responded to the prodding of reform-minded citizens and began to create a framework of rules to control the excesses of giant businesses and to protect the interests of the average citizen. (4) but in the 1990s, that framework of controls on large corporations was being dismantled.
click on the pattern of organization of the passage.
a. definition and example

b. comparison and/or contrast

c. cause and effect