Intro
- Social structures have existed throughout history
· Referred to differently (caste, patriarchy, slavery etc.)
· Have diminish but not disappeared
- Eurasia’s contemporary descendants represent “second wave” civilization way of living
· Live in empires and states
· Way of living derived from local folkways and teaching of great religious or cultural traditions of civilization
· Established societies exemplified hierarchies between different groups
· Chinese, Indian, Mediterranean civilizations represent different organizations of social life
· Social patterns have a particular way of differentiating between civilizations
Society and the State in Classical China
• Shaped by actions of the state
• Officials, bureaucrats acted in name of emperor in the capital and in provinces (represented the elite)
• Choose officials based on performance
An Elite of Officials
• Emperor Wu Di made academies for potential officials to be trained
• Open to all men but preferred the wealthy and those with connections
• Those who entered had great prestige and high privileges
• Creators of Chinese culture
The Landlord Class
• Land is representation of wealth
• Pressures of China caused impoverished peasants to sell their land
• Landlords evaded many common duties putting burden of peasants
• 8 C.E. Wang Mang attempted to change things was unsuccessful
• 23 C.E. Wang Mang assassinated
• Large landowning families remained central in Chinese society
Peasants
• Peasants have been majority of China civilization
• Making enough to support families others making enough to survive
• Life of peasants was vulnerable
• Impoverished and desperate peasants began joining gangs of bandits
• peasants began to join along Yellow River resulted in misery landless poverty
• Peasants uprising known as Yellow Turban Rebellion(ideology from Daoism)
• Yellow Turban Rebellion contributed to overthrow of the dynasty
• Peasants movements have helped in the collapse of dynasties
Merchants
• To scholar-gentry peasants were backbone of country
• Merchants viewed as unproductive and as a social threat
• State authorities kept merchants under control
• Merchants were treated unfairly but despite that they became wealthy
Class and Caste in India
· Cast in India are prominent patterns of social life ordained by god
· Birth determined social status but there is social mobility
· Indian has a caste system
Caste as Varna
· derived from racially defined encounters
· India’s caste are based more on economic specialization and culture than on race
· 500 B.C.E., society based on four classes known as varna
· People remained in the classes they were born into for life
o Brahmins- priests were at the top of system
o Ksatriya- warriors and rulers charged with protecting and governing society
o Vaisya- originally commoners who cultivated the land
o Surdas- native people that took subordinate positions in margins of Aryan society
· Brahmins, Ksatriya’s and Vaisya’s were pure Aryan’s
· Caste were formed from body of the god Purusha
· The untouchables was a new class that emerged and they did the most uncean and polluting jobs.
Caste as Jati
· Social distinctions that came from specific occupations
· Varna and jatis blended together
· Classes were broken into subclasses
· Notion of ritual purity and pollution applied to caste systems
· Notion of karma, dharma and rebirth based of Hinduism supported inequality
· Jati could expel members
The Functions of Caste
· Caste based society focused regions and specific territories thus weakend the state
· Caste+Hinduisms shared culture=integrative mechanism of state
· Offered some social organization
· Offered place for diverse groups of people
· Allows poor to be exploited by the wealthy and powerful
Slavery in the Classical Era: The Cast of the Roman Empire
· Slavery as a way of oppression rooted in human history
· Slaves associated to animals
· Slaves as property
Slavery and Civilization
· Slavery comes with certain implications
· Slaves lack rights and independency in greater society
· Slavery is a tradition recognized and established in different parts of the world
· Slaves systems differ depending on civilizations
The Making of a Slave Society: The Case of Rome
· Slavery played a big part in Greco-Rome society
· Slaves were one third of the total population in Athens
· Most people had slaves even the poor
· Slaves could be granted freedom but even they did not have the same rights as others
· People became slaves in different ways (being captured during war, abandoned children etc.)
· No specific racial or ethnic group was identified with roman slavery
· No job disregarded to slaves only military
· Life of a slave depended on the master
Resistance and Rebellion
· Slaves did what they could to rebel (suicide, theft, working poorly etc.)
· Runaway slaves in most cases were murdered
· Notable case of rebellion of seventy other slaves led by Spartacus
· Although there were save rebellion they did not significantly affect the slave system.
Comparing Patriarchies of the Classical Era
· Most significant division has been the one of gender
· Gender differences favor the male
· Gender differences have shaped the classical civilization
· Gender systems are influenced by world religion, interaction of diverse people.
· Patriarchy varied from one civilization to another and also interrelate with class
A Changing Patriarchy: The Case of China
· For Chinese patriarchy became more evident and geared toward Confucian ideology
· Yang related to male and superiority and yin is related to female inferiority
· Male have public and political while women have domestic and private
· Women’s subordination to her father then husband and finally to her son
· When women exercised power there was negativity associated with it
· Women were appreciated because they can carry male lineage
· As Han dynasty fell and Daoism and Buddhism rose patriarchy lost power in classical China
· Patriarchy diminished with the rise of Buddhism and Daoism in China
Contrasting Patriarchies in Athens and Sparta
· Patriarchies varied depending on location
· Athens views of women were more restrictive than those of Spartan
· Men‘s roles in Athens were growing while women roles became more limited
· Role of women in Sparta was to have sons so they can go in the military
· In Sparta women were encouraged to take part in sporting events like wrestling.
Reflections: Arguing with Solomon and Buddha
· King Solomon- views about “essential changelessness and futility of human life”
· Buddhist- “everything changes: nothing remains without change”
· Things change but they do not completely vanish
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