Class Structures
Grew more complex
during this time period
Low social mobility
Social status generally
inherited
Political Elites (rulers and their
advisors)
Aristocracies (families of high birth who
helped run government and whose
wealth was based on land ownership)
Religious Elites
Merchants, Traders
Artisans, Craftspeople
Unskilled labor, Servants,
Cultivators
China
Agricultural society with typical features of huge
gap between landed gentry and the peasants, esp. in
terms of access to culture and language
In general, social status was inherited
Tight family organization helped economic and
social views of political life
Scholar-Gentry
China
Status based on control of land and
bureaucratic positions in the gov.
Often inherited
Ordinary Citizens
Peasants, some had land and some
worked for landlords
All peasants had to work a designated
number of days per year on public
projects
ScholarGentry
Ordinary, but
free, citizens
Underclass
Merchants, traders
Non-Han Chinese on borderlands
Slaves (although not as many as
Rome)
- Artisans
Underclass
India
Caste system
Varna- Sanskrit word for color
and used by Aryans to
distinguish classes
By 1000 BCE 4 major classes
(see right)
600 BCE – 600 CE caste system
becomes more complex and
each caste divided into jati
(birth groups) and there is no
movement between classes
Family life also emphasized the
them of hierarchy and tight
organization
Brahmins – priests and
scholars
Kshatriya – Warriors
and Gov. officials
Vaishya – Landowners,
Merchants, Artisans
Shudra – peasants,
laborers
Greece
Athens
Also distinguished between
Sparta
citizens and non-citizens
Citizens vs. non However, Athenians okay with
citizens
luxury so clear urban-based
Beyond that everyone
aristocracy developed
was pretty equal (wore Farmers lived outside the city
simple clothing to show
Reforms led to spread of
this)
democracy to all free male
Distinctions based on
citizens but deepened division
military prowess and
between free men and slaves
athleticism
30% of population enslaved
Rome
Aristocrats controlled land that was worked on by
tenant farmers
Elite = Patricians and Commoners= Plebians
Patron-Client relationship
Patrons were wealthy people
Clients served them in return for protection
Gender Relations
Patriarchial systems dominated all classical
civilizations where men were seen as protectors of
women
These systems were accepted and legitimized by
religious and cultural thought
You need to look at the legal rights of women to
determine how much freedom they actually had
Gender in China
Families run by older men and male children
favored
All women legally subordinate to men
Supported by Confucian values
Political positions for men
Marriages arranged according to family ties
Some women in elite families were educated in the
arts, writing, and music
Peasant women were cooks and house cleaners for
men
Gender in India
Dominance of husbands and fathers
Arranged marriages
Lawbook of Manu – 1st Century BCE
“women must never be independent”
“When women are honored the gods are pleased”
Women, however, were celebrated in stories and
theory was much harsher than practice
Women in the
Mediterranean
Spartan women free and equal with men and
encouraged to be physically fit. Women also didn’t
live with their husbands and often ran the city.
Athenian women had much less equality
Elite women confined to the home
Peasant women had more freedom because of farm
chores
Women did have citizenship (which could be passed
on to sons)
No political rights, or rights to own property or
business
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