Social Class And Social Structure In The Elizabethan Era

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.

The meaning of colors and materials were the main rules set by the Sumptuary laws. Elizabethan England was divided into three social classes. The upper class included the monarch, nobility,

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.

Most of them were educated individuals that compiled their wealth by trade and industry. “As the wealth and power had increased, they had sent their sons into posts of state administration, magistracy, the financial system, the high clergy, and the army” (Godechot 68).

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.

There was a time when social classes were most easily identified through material goods and possessions. Whether wealth was gained through inheritance or hard work, it was the luxury items that made the most visible and tangible statement regarding a person’s social status. Men could rely on a large house or expensive car to proclaim the success they had earned. It was much more common to see women adorned in jewels, designer clothes, and furs as symbols of her upper class status. The extravagance of a woman’s appearance was a reflection of the success of her husband, so it was natural to indulge her desire for expensive material possessions.

Social class describes the different "layers" that exist in society. These "layers," or classes in society, are a division that civilization has been running on ever since the beginning of mankind. In most modern societies, our system of social class division is one of opportunity. We experience a good deal of social mobility, where people through generations or in their own lifetime can move up or down the social scale. By examining the many different perceptions of social class along with S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders, it is illustrated that social class has an impact on people while they are growing up, and will usually deny them from rising above adversity.

In Shakespeare's time, the English lived with a strong sense of social class -- of belonging to a particular group because of occupation, wealth, and ancestry. Elizabethan Society had a very strict social code at the time that Shakespeare was writing his plays. Social class could determine all sorts of things, from what a person could wear to where he could live to what jobs his children could get. Some families moved from one class to another, but most people were born into a particular class and stayed there. There was a chance of being granted a title by the crown. This was uncommon at the time and a relatively new thing for Europe where ancestry always defined nobility.

According to Max Weber, social class is a person’s economic position in a society whereas status refers to one’s prestige, popularity and influence and oftentimes, is not determined by economic worth. For example, a priest may be regarded highly in society however may not be in the same economic bracket as a doctor or lawyer. The film, My Fair Lady tells a story about a man, Professor Henry Higgins and his efforts to transform a lower-class woman Eliza Doolittle into a well brought up “lady”, advising her to change previous behaviors and image. Henry Higgins, a distinguished language professor of high class challenges his good friend Colonel Pickering that he cannot fool society into thinking Eliza as a duchess.

Class and social structures changed frequently throughout the medieval period, the renaissance, and the eighteenth century, and this change caused much anxiety in preserving the noble class. During the medieval period, the three classes were challenged by the emergence of the merchant class which rose to the same level as the nobles during the renaissance. Finally, in the eighteenth century, this noble class was pushed out of power and then returned, throwing the class into turmoil. These changes caused anxiety not only within and between the classes, but also within the realm of courtship and gender roles. Although these changes seem unrelated, the intersectionality of class and gender and the anxiety about the rules of courtship appear often in the literature from these time periods and reflect the social changes occurring.

For my research project, I am focusing on social order in Elizabethan England and how the Great Chain of Being might have affected that order. Marjorie K. McIntosh’s “Poverty, Charity, and Coercion in Elizabethan England” highlights how the upperclass gave assistance to the lower classes because their Christian faith guided them to do so. However, A. L. Beier’s “Vagrants and the Social Order in Elizabethan England” takes a more cynical approach to the issue of social order and argues that the poor vagrants were not given widespread assistance. Although Beier and McIntosh disagree upon the extent to which the poor were given assistance and the upper class’s views of the lower classes, they are similar in that they both acknowledge that the only

In the 16th century, many people were rewarded for how they knew because of the thick black line between the rich and the poor. If you were poor then you could probably pull a few tricks that would get you in well with the local lord and this improve your life. I’ll prove that in my next area of focus. Robert Bolt was fascinated by More’s ability to gain status through hard, honest work. He did not get to his position because of the people he knew but because of who he was and how hard he worked.

The Regency time period was an era of great wealth. Both men and women worked vigorously to become part of the upper class. Marrying for upper class women was the only way to gain a source of income (Hall). Women would even change their way of life to be able to marry into wealth. A truth universally acknowledged, that a single main possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife, said Mrs. Bennett (Hall). In the Regency time period, wealth played a huge role in both men and women’s lives

"From the surfs of the middle ages sprang the chartered burghers of the earliest towns. From these burgesses the first elements of the bourgeoisie were developed." (56)