Editing Social class (section)

==History==
===Ancient Egypt===
The existence of a class system dates back to times of [[Ancient Egypt]], where the position of elite was also characterized by literacy.<ref name="Mendoza2017">{{cite book|author=Barbara Mendoza|title=Artifacts from Ancient Egypt|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aE83DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA216|year=2017|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-4408-4401-0|pages=216–|access-date=11 August 2021|archive-date=19 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230219212346/https://books.google.com/books?id=aE83DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA216|url-status=live}}</ref> The wealthier people were at the top in the social order and common people and slaves being at the bottom.<ref name="Baptiste2015">{{cite book|author=Tracey Baptiste|title=The Totally Gross History of Ancient Egypt|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fR5hDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA5|year=2015|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc|isbn=978-1-4994-3755-3|pages=5–|access-date=11 August 2021|archive-date=19 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230219212346/https://books.google.com/books?id=fR5hDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA5|url-status=live}}</ref> However, the class was not rigid; a man of humble origins could ascend to a high post.<ref name="Keller">{{cite book|title=Beyond the Ruling Class: Strategic Elites in Modern Society|first=Suzanne|last=Keller|publisher=Routledge|date=2017|isbn=978-1-351-28918-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AJsuDwAAQBAJ|access-date=12 August 2021|archive-date=19 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230219212348/https://books.google.com/books?id=AJsuDwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|38–}}

The ancient Egyptians viewed men and women, including people from all social classes, as essentially equal under the law, and even the lowliest [[peasant]] was entitled to petition the [[vizier (Ancient Egypt)|vizier]] and his court for redress.<ref name=UCJohnson>{{cite web|url=http://fathom.lib.uchicago.edu/1/777777190170/|title=Women's Legal Rights in Ancient Egypt|date=2002|website=Fathom Archive|publisher=University of Chicago|first=Janet H.|last=Johnson|author-link=Janet H. Johnson|access-date=11 August 2021|archive-date=7 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181007132107/http://fathom.lib.uchicago.edu/1/777777190170/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Farmers made up the bulk of the population, but agricultural produce was owned directly by the state, temple, or [[noble family]] that owned the land.<ref name="Maneulian">{{Cite book|last=Manuelian |first=Peter Der|editor1=Regine Schulz|editor2=Matthias Seidel|title=Egypt: The World of the Pharaohs|year=1998|location=Cologne, Germany|publisher=Könemann|isbn=978-3-89508-913-8}}</ref>{{rp|383}} Farmers were also subject to a labor tax and were required to work on irrigation or construction projects in a [[corvée]] system.<ref name="James">{{Cite book|last=James|first=T.G.H.|author-link=T. G. H. James|title=The British Museum Concise Introduction to Ancient Egypt|publisher=University of Michigan Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-472-03137-5|url=https://archive.org/details/britishmuseumcon00jame}}</ref>{{rp|136}} Artists and craftsmen were of higher status than farmers, but they were also under state control, working in the shops attached to the temples and paid directly from the state treasury. Scribes and officials formed the upper class in ancient Egypt, known as the "white kilt class" in reference to the bleached linen garments that served as a mark of their rank.<ref name="Billard">{{cite book|last=Billard|first=Jules B.|title=Ancient Egypt, Discovering Its Splendors|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DnMhAQAAMAAJ&pg=PP1|year=1978|publisher=National Geographic Society|isbn=978-0-87044-220-9|access-date=11 August 2021|archive-date=19 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230219212348/https://books.google.com/books?id=DnMhAQAAMAAJ&pg=PP1|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|109}} The upper class prominently displayed their social status in art and literature. Below the nobility were the priests, physicians, and engineers with specialized training in their field. It is unclear whether [[Slavery in ancient Egypt|slavery as understood today existed in ancient Egypt]]; there is difference of opinions among authors.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/social/index.html |title=Social classes in ancient Egypt |date=2003 |website=Digital Egypt for Universities |publisher=University College London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213192904/http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/social/index.html |archive-date= 13 December 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Slavebeating.jpg|thumb|Slave beating in ancient Egypt]]
{{Blockquote|Not a single Egyptian was, in our sense of the word, free. No individual could call in question a hierarchy of authority which culminated in a living god.|[[Emile Durkheim]]<ref name="Keller"/>}}
Although slaves were mostly used as indentured servants, they were able to buy and sell their servitude, work their way to freedom or nobility, and were usually treated by [[physician|doctors]] in the workplace.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/timelines/topics/slavery.htm |title=Slavery |website=An introduction to the history and culture of Pharaonic Egypt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120830093437/http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/timelines/topics/slavery.htm |archive-date=30 August 2012}}</ref>

===Elsewhere===
In Ancient Greece, when the clan system{{efn|based on blood relations}} was declining, the classes{{efn|based on occupation}} replaced the clan society when it became too small to sustain the needs of increasing population. The division of labor is also essential for the growth of classes.<ref name="Keller"/>{{rp|39}}

[[File:Burmese nobles.JPG|thumb|[[Burma|Burmese]] nobles and servants]]
[[File:Group of Kanem-Bu warriors.jpg|thumb|right| [[Nigeria]]n warriors armed with spears in the retinue of a mounted [[Nigerian chieftaincy system|war chief]]. ''The Earth and Its Inhabitants'', 1892]]
Historically, social class and behavior were laid down in law. For example, permitted mode of dress in some times and places was strictly regulated, with sumptuous dressing only for the high ranks of society and [[aristocracy (class)|aristocracy]], whereas [[sumptuary law]]s stipulated the dress and jewelry appropriate for a person's social rank and [[social status|station]]. In Europe, these laws became increasingly commonplace during the Middle Ages. However, these laws were prone to change due to societal changes, and in many cases, these distinctions may either almost disappear, such as the distinction between a patrician and a plebeian being almost erased during the late [[Roman Republic]].

[[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] had a large influence over political ideals of the [[French Revolution]] because of his views of inequality and classes. Rousseau saw humans as "naturally pure and good," meaning that humans from birth were seen as innocent and any evilness was learned. He believed that social problems arise through the development of society and suppress the innate pureness of humankind. He also believed that [[private property]] is the main reason for social issues in society because private property creates inequality through the property's value. Even though his theory predicted if there were no private property then there would be wide spread equality, Rousseau accepted that there will always be social inequality because of how society is viewed and run.<ref name="Conley, Dalton 2017">{{cite book|author=Conley, Dalton |chapter=Stratification |editor=Bakeman, Karl |title=You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking like a Sociologist |edition=5th |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-393-61427-5}}</ref>

Later Enlightenment thinkers viewed inequality as valuable and crucial to society's development and prosperity. They also acknowledged that private property will ultimately cause inequality because specific resources that are privately owned can be stored and the owners profit off of the deficit of the resource. This can create competition between the classes that was seen as necessary by these thinkers.<ref name="Conley, Dalton 2017"/> This also creates [[Social stratification|stratification]] between the classes keeping a distinct difference between lower, poorer classes and the higher, wealthier classes.

India ([[Caste system in India|↑]]), Nepal, North Korea ([[Songbun|↑]]), Sri Lanka ([[Social class in Sri Lanka|↑]]) and some [[Indigenous peoples]] maintain social classes today.

In class societies, class conflict has tended to recur or is ongoing, depending on the sociological and anthropolitical perspective.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The concise encyclopedia of sociology|date=2011|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=978-1-4443-9263-0|page=66|oclc=701327736}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Weapons of the weak: everyday forms of peasant resistance|isbn=978-0-585-36330-1|oclc=317459153}}</ref> Class societies have not always existed; there have been widely different types of class communities.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Evolution of Property from Savagery to Civilization |date=2017|publisher=HansenBooks|isbn=978-3-337-31218-3|oclc=1104923720}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Ancient society|date=2000|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=0-7658-0691-6|oclc=44516641}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Western colonialism since 1450|date=2007|publisher=Macmillan Reference US|isbn=978-0-02-866085-1|pages=64, 620, 849, 921|oclc=74840473}}</ref> For example, societies based on age rather than capital.<ref name="Cambridge University Press">{{Cite book|title=Age class systems: social institutions and polities based on age|date=1985|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-30747-3|oclc=11621536}}</ref> During [[colonialism]], social relations were dismantled by force, which gave rise to societies based on the social categories of waged labor, private property, and capital.<ref name="Cambridge University Press"/><ref>{{cite journal |last=Bhandar |first=Brenna |title=Property, Law, and Race: Modes of Abstraction |journal=UC Irvine Law Review |date=2014 |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=203–218 |url=https://scholarship.law.uci.edu/ucilr/vol4/iss1/10/ |access-date=2022-11-11 |issn=2327-4514 |archive-date=11 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221111012001/https://scholarship.law.uci.edu/ucilr/vol4/iss1/10/ |url-status=live }}</ref>