The class division of society is significant not only from the point of view of social science, but also from a historical perspective. Social science and history are partly united by the object of study - human society at all stages of its development. And in any era there was an inequality among people. And on the basis of this, unequal rights and obligations appear.
The first manifestations of inequality in society
An estate is a certain social group that has a set of inherited responsibilities and rights. It is formally fixed by custom or law. The estates are formed on the property, religious, military, professional grounds and within their framework their own way of life and moral standards are formed.
Class division arose in ancient Rome. The entire population was divided into free and dependent. Free, in turn, consisted of Roman (free-born and freed) and non-Roman (Latin and peregrine) citizens. Slaves belonged to the dependent estate.
Classic concepts. Class division of society in the Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages, the class division of society reflects partly the occupation of people. France 14-15 centuries is a classic example of the estate device. Each estate is the clergy, the nobility and the third estate.
The first two estates constituted a class of feudal lords, who were inherent in a large number of special privileges: they did not pay taxes, had benefits when filling a public post. The third estate, which paid taxes, included all other groups of people. The bourgeoisie, which had accumulated strength at the height of class division during the French Revolution, as a result destroys the class system and proclaims the formal equality of citizens. The hierarchy of wealth comes to the fore.
Estates in the Russian state under Ivan the Great
The Russian state is called a territorial entity in the late 15th - early 18th centuries, existing in Russia, under the rule of Ivan the Great.
During this period in the Russian state, the following classes were distinguished — the taxing and the serving. The first category of people was subject to a system of not only monetary, but also natural state duties. Only after the abolition of serfdom in 1861, tax in our state disappears. The servicemen had to perform military or administrative service to the benefit of the state. They were divided into servicemen by country, instrument and appeal. In the Russian state, the class division of society reflects its privileged division. The highest class is the aristocracy and the boyars, the lower privileged class is the nobles and boyar children. Separately, the class of archers was distinguished. The lowest class is the slaves.
Estates in the Russian Empire
The second half of the 18th century went down in history in that in the Russian Empire the population began to be divided into as many as 9 estates.
The class division of society reflects the social structure of the Russian population of Russia at that time. It is interesting that it developed completely organically. So, the class division of society was presented as follows. The estate of the nobility stood out. It was hereditary or personal. Other segments of the population were the clergy, honorary citizens, merchants, bourgeois, military inhabitants, Cossacks, and peasants. The latter were divided into free odnodvortsy, black-sown, specific dependent, serfs. A group of raznochintsy also stood out.
Introduction Ranking Tables
The ranking table is a documented table that shows a list of correspondences between military, court, and civil ranks ranked in 14 classes.
After the appearance of the Table of Ranks of Peter the Great, the nobles got a chance to become nobles. For this to happen, you had to get a rank from the lower class. But in order to minimize the flow of non-nobles, over time, the entrance bar rises and it becomes more difficult to become a nobleman.
Other Russian estates
Class division of society reflects the type of government. This is a false statement. Classification of society reflects the type of social stratification.
The peasants were in detail a divided estate. Among them stood out such categories as state (free, but attached to the land), monastic (depended on the Russian Orthodox Church), landowners (were the property of noble landowners), specific (lived on specific lands, belonged to the royal family, paid rent and answered on charges), ascribed (in order not to pay a capitation tax, “attributed” to factories), odnodvorski (former military men, turned into peasants on the borders of Russia), White Plows (owned their land, were not anyone's property, but patched taxes).
November 11, 1917 was the day of the decree on the destruction of estates and civil ranks. It was approved by the Central Executive Committee of the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies and approved by the Council of People's Commissars. Published news of the decree Newspaper of the Provisional Worker and Peasant Government and Izvestia. The class division of society in Russia has been eliminated from that moment. The abolition of estates and estate legal instruments (ranks, titles and ranks) formally led to legal civil equality of the inhabitants of the newly created state.
The modern division of Russian society
The estates were replaced by the class division of society based on stratification. The division into classes takes place according to the economic criterion based on the level of income, ownership of property. The ideal structure is the lower, middle and upper layer. The middle class should be at least 50% of the population so that society is considered economically developed and stable. A large number of middle class people speak of a high standard of living of the population and concern for the population. A large layer of entrepreneurs stands out who make up the economic elite. In the 21st century, the professional stratification of society has changed in the emergence of new professions and jobs. The financial, legal, commercial spheres of activity come to the fore. People in these professions are most often currently in higher social positions than workers in other areas. The basis of modern society is the middle class, which ensures the stability of development. Russia belongs to the transition countries in this regard, as middle class citizens make up only about 20% of the total population. In the future development of democracy and the economy, this number should increase. Social elevators are developing more and more so that you can move from one class to another, which contributes to the development of our society. For Russia, everything is just beginning, and gradually our country will come to the economic level of reference countries with a developed middle class.