Social Classes In Medieval Europe

The peasants, including serfs, freeman and villeins spent their life on a manor or surrounding village life” ( Medieval Life ). Therefore, those who were wealthy lived a comfortable, privileged life while those unfortunate to not have this honor lived a life of work and poverty. Also, since wealth determined class, fortune did not smile upon those who couldn’t afford to own a lavish residence,

Were required to provide food to the superior classes in the society and hence they engaged themselves majorly in agriculture. Since they did not own the land and hence were required to pay certain taxes in both cash & kind to the people who gave them

Fields were abandoned and crops were not harvested. The lords that owned these dying lands were desperate for work. Taking advantage of the situation, peasants began to demand for money for their labor. For the first time, peasants were making working conditions and they were working for themselves. The higher social classes did not have as much control over the lower classes.

The workers on the contrary, had far worse living conditions. They lived in cheap wooden houses or dormitories, had very low wages, could only afford to eat black bread, soup, and vodka. However, the majority of the population in Russia was the peasants. Those serfs had poor living conditions, and would support however proposed the best for them, as they wanted to get rid of the inequality between classes, and landlords, to own their land. Poor living conditions of the majority of the Russian population was only one factor of the

Therefore, they continued to be poor farm workers who pretty much had to work for the rich landowners. This was not much different from how things had been during slavery. It is clear that the government did not care much of the morality of slavery more than as a political tactic to secure higher

Peasants included Freemen and Serfs. Freemen - Poor farmers who controlled small areas of land. Sold crops. Serf - Had no rights or political power. Lived on a Nobles property.

At that time, agriculture production is low because of lack of agricultural knowledge and technological inputs were also low which bind the whole family to work in agriculture fields. After 1750s industrial revolution began and it led to advances in agricultural technology that greatly increased food production, which allow other people to pursue other work. At that time horsepower came into use and machinery like steam engine used in the agricultural process. Tractors were used for ploughing. In 1701 Jethro Tull’s used drill ways of sowing seed in rows, in the place of broadcasting.

It ended centuries of oppression and provided the peasants the opportunity to own land, vote, and live freely in society. The emancipation taught the peasantry that even under an autocratic rule, reform is achievable. The industrial revolution sent many of the peasants from the rural farms to the urban areas to work in factories. However, the peasants had simply traded the oppressive agrarian life for an equally oppressive urban industrial life. They worked long hours, generally six days a week, and their wages were barely enough to sustain a family.

On the other hand, peasant societies are seen as a part society with a part culture. Peasants are defined as small agricultural producers who with the help of simple tools and the labour of their families, produce mainly for their own consumption through the cultivation of land and for the fulfilment of obligations to the holders of political and economic power says Shanin (1973). Tribal and peasant societies overlapped; tribal society goes down, peasant society goes up. People in peasant societies were somewhat more free and were able to tend their own crops but to have their own lands they still had whims of the landlord, traders and social

The lower class had to deal with horrifying living standards and food shortages due to famine and World War 1. While rural agricultural peasants had been liberated from serfdom in 1861, they still resented paying redemption payments to the state and demanded communal tender of the land they worked. Increasing peasant troubles and sometimes full revolt occurred, with the goal of securing ownership of their land. Russia consisted mainly of poor farming peasants, with 1.5% of the population owning 25% of the land (

In the North the economy consisted of industrial machines and factories used to produce goods. Railroads were also used for fast communication and trade, and immigrants came to work at these factories, which led to cheaper labor. In the South it was much more of a rural based society that included a lot of farming and agriculture. Crops were relied on heavily as a form of profit. The rivers were what the South used to transport good, and as a result led to slow communication.