Socioeconomic Classes - AP World History: Modern

The kulaks were independent farmers who gained some measurement of prosperity after the abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861. As such, they were considered to be class enemies of the poor peasants by Lenin, Stalin, and other Bolsheviks.

The caste system has existed in India for thousands of years, as a means of dividing the population and establishing who has power over whom. It was once quite fluid, but a series of invading people (including the British) found it incumbent to reinforce the caste system to keep the population in line. Following Indian independence, and the framing of the constitution, discrimination on the basis of caste was made illegal. However, in India caste discrimination remains extremely common, particularly in rural areas.

Russia suffered immensely during the First World War. Casualties on the frontline were catastrophic and Russian soldiers and workers suffered terribly. This contributed heavily to the exacerbation of class tensions in Russian society and led directly to the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1917.

The Three Principles of the People were developed by Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-Sen. Sun Yat-Sen was the leader of the Chinese revolutionaries who overthrew the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China. The three principles can be loosely translated to “nationalism, self-determination, and social welfare.”

China’s Cultural Revolution was aimed primarily at purging China of all forces associated with capitalism or with traditional Chinese culture. This involved a concentrated and prolonged assault on Chinese intellectuals and academics - many of whom were imprisoned, tortured, or executed.

The Kulaks had been Russia’s landowning peasants and the collectivization of farms essentially took away all their economic, political, and social power.

Caste-based discrimination is illegal according to the Indian Constitution, but still prevails in many aspects of Indian society. In modern India a person is much more likely to experience caste-based discrimination in rural villages, as compared to cities which are extremely diverse.

Both Samurai warriors and British Knights held elevated positions in society. They served land-owning nobles, and could rise to political prominence through battle. They were distinctly above the peasants, and made a career of being a soldier. Note that Samurai were, by definition, warriors who served a specific noble. Ronin were masterless samurai, but were considered a fundamentally different class of person in society.

Christian missionaries began arriving in Japan for the first time in the sixteenth century and had immediate, if limited, success at converting the native population. However, the ruling government feared the mutinous impact of Christianity on the population and banned Christian missionaries from the country. The Japanese government would later ban all contact between Japanese people and foreigners, leading to centuries of Japanese isolationism.

Janissaries were soldiers in the Ottoman Empire who had been kidnapped as young Christian boys, enslaved, and forced to serve in the Ottoman armed forces. Most Janissaries came from Ottoman holdings in southern Europe.

In South American colonial society European settlers tended to mix much more freely with the native population than in North American colonial society. This can be evidenced by words like Mestizo and Mulatto which were used in the Spanish colonial hierarchy to denote those individuals who had been born of mixed European and native ancestry.

Millets have a long established history in areas of the world ruled by Islamic governments. Millets pertain to the rights of non-Muslim populations living under Muslim-rule. In the Ottoman Empire Millets were protected communities designed to ensure the legal protection of non-Muslim citizens in the empire.

The Spanish colonial hierarchy was headed by the peninsulares (settlers who were born in Spain), followed by the creoles (individuals whose parents had been born in Spain), and finally Mestizos (individuals who had European and native ancestry). Mestizos enjoyed some rights in Spanish America, but were prejudiced against by the peninsulares and the creoles.

Peninsulares were at the top of the Spanish colonial hierarchy. Peninsulares were Spanish settlers who had been born in Spain and came to settle in Spanish America. The King kept the peninsulares distinct from the creoles (those who had been born in the colonies to Spanish parents) so as to better ensure his control over the administration of the empire.

In the Spanish colonial hierarchy creoles were individuals who were born in the colonies, but who had Spanish parents or grandparents. Creoles were considered second-class citizens and were beneath peninsulares in the social hierarchy.

The Vaishyas are the third highest of the four broad groupings in the Indian caste system. Of these options, only warriors would not be included as Vaishyas. Soldiers, warriors, and secular rulers would have been in the second caste (beneath the Brahmins) known as the Kshatriya. The Vaishyas were merchants and artisans.

In the Indian caste system, which was established by the nomadic Aryan people upon their arrival in India circa 3,500 years ago, Brahmins are at the very top of the hierarchy. Hindu priests are drawn from the ranks of the Brahmins and they are considered the most holy of all the castes.

During the medieval period, the status of women was most elevated in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Africa (outside of the Islamic north) societies were often matriarchal and would trace their lineage matrilineally. In almost every other society on Earth at this time, women were restrained and oppressed either through social custom or by law.

The Reform Bill of 1832 was passed in the British parliament to “amend the representation of the people of England and Wales.” Prior to the Reform Bill, only a very small percentage of the population was able to vote, roughly five hundred thousand out of a population of thirteen million. The Reform Bill extended voting rights to an additional few hundred thousand men from the emerging industrial middle class. Although the percentage of the British population who could participate in government was still lower than ten percent, the Reform Bill represents the first step in Britain towards truly representative democracy.