Social Classes In Regency England

During this time the social class depended on how much land you owned. Royalty in your Kings and Queens was part of the upper class; the noble lords and vassals followed the

The best class to be in was the gentry because they were the richest of the rich. The people that made up the gentry included plantation owners (the Tidewater), merchants/business owners, ministers, royal officials, successful lawyers and wealthy artisans, such as goldsmiths. The gentry owned most of the land, were very powerful, were the most likely to hold office, and the men had the right to vote.

In late eighteenth and early nineteenth century England there was a sort of moral ‘code’ of behavior and standards that are to be maintained by the middle and upper classes of society. Austen realistically mirrors this ‘code’ through the characters and plots of her novels while showing that social flexibility was narrow and class boundaries were strict. The topics of class stringency and social mobility are important areas in Jane Austen’s literature. We begin to see that Austen is not a revolutionary as she supports and preserves the morals and customs of societies hierarchy. However she often encourages and backs the emergence of new wealth permitting greater social mobility. In Austen’s world the naval and ‘tradesmen’ professions

Specifically, the six social classes during the 16th century in England were Monarchy, Nobility, Gentry,

The social class for the Elizabethan Era was unique because of the different ways it was set up than from today. This social class has a very different type of hierarchy than any other social class that was ever made. Even though this social class was unique, it still needed the opportunity for improving the flaws. Certain levels of hierarchy needed a possibility for demotion for their class to move up in the rankings so they can get treated and respected better. The lower levels of the social classes didn’t have the best ways of living and suffered cruelty. The social class in the Elizabethan Era had a different type of hierarchy than we do today, the social class had the opportunity for improvement, and the possibility of demotion of the social class; therefore the social class could have had a revolution or change in the system.

The following class, which was by far the largest, was the middle class. (Population and Social Rank) This included owners of small stores and businesses, small farmers, and craftsmen. (1727: Colonial America) They were mostly educated, and lived successful lives. They also had very high moral standards and some were deeply religious. (Population and Social Rank) Most middle class men could vote, but few held public office, as the gentry used their wealth and influence for political control. Middle class women ran self-sufficient households, and made their own clothes, candles, cheese and soap. Few were educated. (1727: Colonial America)

There were several classes of whites in the Antebellum South. The first class is what you call your elite or high class which were the wealthy, high society, grower gentry who were land rich. The first class possessed at least 20 or more slaves and accomplished their wealth from the development and sale of the cash crops, cotton and rice. The children of the upper class were often educated by personal tutors or at private schools in South Carolina and abroad. Next, there was the middle class of white people. The middle class consisted of tradesman, merchants, sharecroppers and etc. When the economy stayed steady, it allowed the middle class people to make a living. Their children were taught to read and write, basically learn the

“There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully” (Chopin 129). One can interpret this to mean that parents in the 1800s (and to some extent today) desired a higher marital status for their daughters, so they could be well positioned for a stable life. As discussed in class, social status still exists in modern America which can significantly attract many candidates who want to marry a person for social status but not necessarily for love. These attitudes that continue to dominate America today stem from the aristocratic Old South as a means to achieve control of wealth for the few at the expense of impoverishing the masses.

Social class systems in the nineteenth century were comprised of the upper class, the middle class, the working class, and the underclass. The different social classes can be “distinguished by inequalities in such areas as power, authority, wealth, working and living conditions, life-styles, life-span, education, religion, and culture” (Cody). The poor, also known as peasants, were usually mistreated and segregated from the wealthy, or those of higher class. During his time, Charles Dickens “seen as a champion of “the poor” by some of the poor themselves” (“What was”). It is said that one of his greatest achievements “was to bring the problem of poverty to the attention of his readers through introducing varieties of poor persons into almost all of his novels, and showing the “deserving” majority of the poor, bravely struggling against the forces arrayed against them” (“What was”). This is clearly evident in A Tale of Two Cities. During the nineteenth century Victorian era, social class systems were a common excuse for the division and mistreatment of many individuals, as evidenced in Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.

“Lady Catherine will not think the worst of you for being simply dressed. She likes to have the distinction of rank preserved” (Austen 127). Distinction of social classes has been slowly fading away in today’s modern society, but contributed to create a society dominated by a ironclad hierarchy prior to the twentieth century. Jane Austen published Pride and Prejudice in 1813, which revolves around the love story between Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy. Both Elizabeth and Darcy have to overcome various issues of the Regency era, and learn to accept each other towards the end of novel. Jane Austen showcases the nineteenth century turmoil between the upper class and the working class through the strict social hierarchy and conflicts between the characters in Pride and Prejudice and ultimately proposes a solution towards the end of the novel.

Social Classes in Early Colonies - By the late seventeenth century there were a few upper class mostly younger sons of the lesser gentry some businessmen in the middle class who move for religious and commercial reasons and mostly English laborers; in the Chesapeake these laborers were often indentured while in New England they often arranged their own passage. In both men>women (a little more lax in the early south and women>children; in the south: large plantation owners>small plantation owners> owners w/o land>slaves

ln our western culture today, society is not as strict about manners or proper etiquette. This is

The social classes had many varying roles which were important to the different classes and their functions in society. Queen Elizabeth was at the top of the social pyramid (“The Social Structure in Elizabethan England”). Being the head of the country, the Queen was the most respected person in England. She had full control and governed everyone. Following the Queen, came the higher middle classes such as the nobility. The nobility were the fighters and knights, which many had died in the War of the Roses. The Queen saw this class as a threat and

The gentry class was rich people who owned land and were lawyers, doctors, and clergy (Sheehan). For this reason, being born into the gentry social class was a special gift. The landed gentry got property by buying it with the money that they worked for and not inheriting it (Pride and Prejudice). If a male baby is born into a rich family, he would inherit money and land when his father passes away. When the upper class had children they gave the them a special name. For example, Baronet is the oldest son and has the right to be called sir. Also, Gentleman is a man who was born into a rich family or a good social class. When being born in the middle class (landowners), they had to make money by farming (Grace).

The embodiment of this superficial class is the Elliott family. In using the Elliotts as her prime example of the aristocracy, a family that purchased its nobility relatively recently, Austen undercuts their claim to privilege. This family serves almost as a metonym for the larger aristocratic family in general. Rather than showing the aristocratic family tree as a pyramid of increasing status with increasing responsibility, Austen portrays it as a social food chain of the flatterers and the flattered. For example, when Mrs. Clay quits Bath at the end of the novel, Sir Walter and Elizabeth are "shocked and mortified...they had their great cousins, to be sure, to resort to for comfort; but they must long feel that to flatter and follow others, without being flattered and followed in turn, is but a state of half enjoyment" (Persuasion 220). Unlike the landholders of other novels-Mr. Darcy of Pride and Prejudice and Mr. Knightley of Emma, for example-Sir Walter does not fit with Burkean models of beneficial aristocratic paternalism. His connection to the land is limited to Elizabeth