Social Class In The Elizabethan Era

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

In the English colonies there were six social classes. From the richest to the poorest, these were the gentry, the middle Class, poor whites, indentured servants, free africans and slaves. The people that made up these classes ranged from the most powerful to those with the least amount of rights, if any.

Social class plays a major role in a society. A person’s social class affects his/her education, respectability, and ability to get a job. Most people in America’s society are born into their social class, but it is easier now to move up than it was in 16th century England. Although there are some slight differences in these two social classes, the social classes of 16th century England are shockingly similar to the social classes of modern day America.

Unlike upper class they did not necessarily inherit their money but earned it off their own hard work. They could afford their own town house and servants to run the household. Over time these class of people grew more influential and eventually gained the right to vote in 1832. They were below the aristocracy but above the workers.

The monarch was the the first level of the hierarchy, which is the royalty or rulers. As Prezi.com states, “The Monarchs is usually the King or Queen of the empire.” The second level of the hierarchy was called the Nobility, these people were the rich, powerful, and owned large households. The third level was considered the Gentry, the people of the Gentry were wealthy and owned small to large properties as well. The fourth level was referred as Merchants, the Merchants were the people which produced goods for other people to consume including themselves. The fifth level was the Yeomen, they were people that worked under the Merchants making and producing goods for people. As Encyclopedia Britannica states, “The sixth level was called Servants or Peasants, these people were poor, had little respect from the higher levels, and had little to no responsibilities or

     To be in the highest class, one had to be born into it. This four percent of the population was known as the Noble class. The class was broken into two estates: the first estate and the second estate. They were the hierarchy of the church and well respected church officials. The second estate made up the other three percent and included the Royal family and other wealthy families that had inherited most of their income (Lough 98-105). Although these were the richest people in the country, they were

The concept of social class has been around for ages and is still a part of today’s society. Social class is not only based on the individual’s wealth but also on their social standing such as; monarchs, priests, nobles, merchants, and peasant class. The peasant class was practically ignored, which means that the higher classes would only pay attention to each other. This can be the case in society today, there are some people who feel that their career makes them higher than a janitor. Even though humans have been around for centuries, social class is still a big issue.

* The upper class was the highest of them all and the people who qualified to be in this category were very wealthy and proper people.

The upper, middle, and lower class. The upper class streamed from the aristocrats of earlier time periods. The middle and lower classes were the working classes. The middle class however had jobs with better pay, a better standard of living ,and better sanitation then the lower class but still had struggles with day to day necessities. The lower class were very poor and had difficult lives. Many children worked in the lower class. This relates to A Brave New World as the lower classes were not focused on in society very often, and had difficult jobs and less access to resources from their conception, this caused the lower classes to in general have low

upper class consisted of wealthy and well educated minor aristocrats they could vote and they held high public office

The second class was the plebeians which were lower class citizens. They were not allowed to take part in the senate. The third class was made up of slaves. Slaves were either war prisoners or plebeians who had refused to or were unable to pay taxes. Possibly Imperial Rome and Han China both had social classes because they kept the each class knew their role and performed it.

First are the Patricians which are the Elite class and gentlemen live by a code of behaviors and that did not have to work. Middle-class men work and

These people own the most land and as mentioned before, hold some sort of position in politics. They normally only socialized with people in their own class. The only way to become part of the upper social class, was to be born in to it. You couldn’t go from being part of the middle class and then upgrade to the upper class. Because of their social status, some people would think that they were barely affected by the Napoleonic war, but they couldn’t be more wrong.

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

In the book Star of the Sea, written by author Joseph O’Connor, he states “They had far more in common than either realised. One was born Catholic, the other Protestant. One was born Irish, the other British. But neither was the greatest difference between them. One was born rich and the other poor.” O’Connor summarises the idea of social class that has been a recurring idea since the dawn of time. Social classes is basically the division of society that is based on social and economic status. The people who were at the top of the social classes were thought to be the prestigious and most worthy people and the further you go down the chain the more common people you began to see. Many people demonstrate the social class system in literature. Shakespeare, especially, offers a challenge to what everyone thought they knew of the social class system.