Aristocracy was the wealthiest social group in Europe. Their income came from land and aristocratic people owned at least 1/3 of all land. Aristocracy reached new heights when the European population was growing. When the population was growing the aristocratic people had more slaves under their control, the landed nobility
The second estate, which held 2% of the total population, included the Hershey’s (nobles). And finally, the third estate help most of the population (97%) which includes all the Tootsie Rolls (workers, peasants, and the bourgeoisie).
Matthew Desmond’s Evicted takes a sociological approach to understanding the low-income housing system by following eight families as they struggle for residential stability. The novel also features two landlords of the families, giving the audience both sides and allowing them to make their own conclusions. Desmond goes to great lengths to make the story accessible to all classes and races, but it seems to especially resonate with people who can relate to the book’s subjects or who are liberals in sound socioeconomic standing. With this novel, Desmond hopes to highlight the fundamental structural and cultural problems in the evictions of poor families, while putting faces to the housing crisis. Through the lens of the social reproduction theory, Desmond argues in Evicted that evictions are not an effect of poverty, but rather, a cause of it.
As the French had about Twenty-five million people, 100,000 were clergy, 400,000 were the nobleman, and the rest was known as the third estate. The third estate was left to starve, while Louis XVi and Marie Antoinette lived a luxury lifestyle. The only food they could afford for a limited time was bread, but then the prices got so high, that the rich can only afford it.
Christopher Hayes investigates the influence of the elite that hindered the rising of the middle class and prevented the overturning of capitalistic regime. Hayes explores the concept of meritocracy revealing the issues that prevent equal opportunity for all citizens. Thus, Hayes theorizes that the uprising of the rising middle class may have been unachievable based on the unequal distribution of power and resources that promote the endurance of the elite. Hayes suggests that elite is both a social status that pertains to specific ideological assumptions of this class, alongside with the economic associations of the elite as a social construct embedded in society. Hayes reflects on major historical times that promoted the supremacy of the elite.
In 1789, when the revolt began, statistics about the three classes in France were taken (Document 2). The data showed that the third estate had the highest percentage of total population, total land owned, and income paid in taxes. The third estate consisted of 97% of France, yet they were not given any voice in the government. In Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution, Comte D’Antraigues stated that the people are the foundation of the state and power should lie in it’s citizens (Document 6). Therefore, this signified that since the last social group made up almost all of the country, they should be given more control and input in how the government should be run.
. The book explains that in order for the ruling classes to maintain their control they would have to focus the lower classes of people and their energies into not hating them, the wealthy. Instead the wealthy introduced the concept of “the other” to the poor and fed them the concept that was the Revolution,that rising up against a tyrannical England and king was on the behalf of a united people. In today’s America the imbalance of wealth and power still exists, according to Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, “Because our public policies have been owned by the extremely wealthy they have been able to push that wealth even higher, 1% own more than the rest of us 99% combined.”
Who or what has imposed such privilege upon them? Why and how do the few control the many? These are just some of the ideas that crossed my mind whilst reading “Hegemony” by James Lull. One could easily argue the current dominant class is the result of a trickle-down effect over time of the inheritance of wealth, therefor inheritance of influence. Which makes a lot of sense, except for when we realize that in reality all they have is a bunch of “valuable” green paper, they do not have some mystic or divine control of others.
One important component in which the upper class rule America is the electoral process. Loose campaign finance regulation, including controversial Supreme Court decisions such as Citizens United v. US and Buckley v. Valeo is a primary cause of the wealthy ruling politics. These two decisions asserted that corporations are not limited in their spending on political candidates. Essentially, the US Supreme Court enabled corporate leaders to buy influence - SuperPAC heads and wealthy businessmen were welcomed to join forces and pour as much money as possible into candidates’ campaigns. The net effect: America’s wealthiest individuals could exert an unmatchable influence on candidates and the electorate while pressing an agenda favoring the upper class.
A group wanting to challenge this hierarchy of living will force the privilege to go to any lengths for this “hierarchy’s preservation and hostile toward demands for more equitable social order” (557). This explicitly details how the privilege are trying to be maintain this hierarchy from being reformed and altered. In the event that is does they have to take action because if not this ideology that they live by will be changed. If change is successful, it can lead to the construction of new ideas that see another group more dominate than the other. These ideologies can have an influence within institutions especially those of high power such as universities, government, and media.
This goes back to his question about what creates a nation. His answer is that it contains both the nobles and citizens who live according to the common law and represent the government as a whole. In short terms, the Third Estate contains everything. Sieyès wakes people up that even though the leaders have different responsibilities, it does not exclude them from certain laws or put them above the laws. For a nation to function, all people must serve for the government and obey the laws no matter what position they serve in their
They also believe that the Third estate fought for equality, better rights, and better social economics. In Lefebvre’s document, he stresses that social, economic, and political factors were very key in his argument. In his document he states that the bourgeoisie, the upper middle-class of the Third Estate, developed “A new ideology which the “philosophers” and “economists” of the had simply put into form.” By doing this and the clergy’s power growing weaker, the Third Estate was able to restore the harmony between fact and law. In Palmer’s document, he believes that the Revolution began with the bourgeoisie resenting the nobleman for his superiority and his arrogance, which caused the social and political collision between the two.
Throughout the novel, characters are depicted as making great sacrifices to protect their loved ones and uphold their principles. This quote, which is spoken by Sydney Carton as he prepares to sacrifice himself for the sake of Charles Darnay and his family, is a poignant expression of the transformative power of sacrifice. By choosing to sacrifice himself, Carton can redeem his past mistakes. The quote highlights the importance of selflessness and sacrifice in the face of great adversity and underscores the transformative power of choosing to do what is right, even when it is difficult or
The idea of living within a high class society and the illusion of control becomes appealing to many. Perhaps this is a tactic they use to lure more people to follow them? For instance, George Wilson’s wife, Myrtle has an affair with Tom Buchanan because she was attracted to his wealth and she dreamed of living a life full of excess. “The modern individual is produced by a power that individualizes precisely in order to better control (1470).” In this case, it is apparent that the wealthy individuals went to great lengths to acquire substantial wealth so that they could oppress the disadvantaged members to meet their societal goals.
I belong to the Third Estate, the commoners. We are the largest and make up about 96% of the population. Bankers, doctors, lawyers, merchants, professors and peasants are all the people who belong to the Third Estate. I am a peasant and everyday is a constant struggle to stay alive and well.
