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As noted earlier in the early histories of various countries, all larger societies had some type of class structure, very often with three or four classes where slaves made up the lowest class. During the last 3 centuries a somewhat new class structure rose. Most countries officially adopted the economic structure built on money. This can be seen especially in the western countries.
The importance of hereditary structure of kings, pharaohs, and other noble men was vastly diminished and even in those countries where the heredity structure was still of some importance, it was often associated with money or was only honorary. In the new technical and economic structure, it was important to be able to move people around as easily as possible. Naturally, the smaller the unit the easier for movement which meant that it was important that individuals could easily change their living arrangement. This means that it was very beneficial that individuals could easily separate. So of course, it was an economic benefit that people lived together without marital ties and/or could easily break any ties. As mentioned at another place in this history, attempts were made to equate the classes of male and female, so that females could vote as males and enter most of the occupations that been predominated by males. The eliminating of this class distinction was important for the best economical development as this gave a larger pool of workers. It, of course, also increased the quantity of stress in the society. ................................................................................ Despite officially often saying that their societies had no class structure, people often talked for example of the middle class, which implies that probably most people knew that there was a class structure that they preferred not to call a “class” structure.. |
