Article 9

There are social orders in every society, and they cannot be avoided. They are good for people in the upper portions of the social classes. They are bad for the people in the lower portions of the social classes. Many times, social orders are described as being in a pyramid. Social orders don’t allow any movement between them. When it is possible, it is extremely difficult. For example, in medieval times, there were three major social classes, serfs, clergy, and the noblemen.

The serfs and pheasants were at the very bottom in the social orders. If you were born in that social class, you died in that class. It was virtually impossible to change classes. This class made up the majority of the population in medieval Europe. They also did the majority of the work. They were almost treated as slaves. Living life as a pheasant was not enjoyable. There were multiple instances where the serfs and pheasants rose up and decided to rebel against the noblemen. Because the serfs were poor, they did not stand much a chance. They were quickly put back in their place. The serfs made up the large, bottom of the pyramid.

The middle portion of the social order contains the clergy. The clergy is anyone that is involved in church duties, such as bishops, priests, monks, or the Pope. They lived a better life than the serfs and pheasants, but it was not as enjoyable as the noblemen’s lifestyle. The job of the clergy was to copy the text and music found in the Bible, but most of their time was spent praying. The rest of their time was devoted to taking care of monastery gardens. The clergy made up the middle part of the social class pyramid.

The top, and least populated, section of the pyramid would consist of the noblemen. These were the rich, landowning people of the time. A nobleman’s life was fairly easy compared to the harsh treatment of pheasants. They were the ones who owned the farms and the serfs that farmed the land. Only a very slim portion of the population would be in this class. The wealth in medieval Europe was contained only between the Catholic Church and the noblemen. Because pheasants did not have any money, it made virtually impossible to move up in the pyramid. No matter how hard they worked, their pay was almost nothing.

In the time period discussed, medieval times, it was extremely difficult and nearly impossible to rise in social class. If you are born into a certain class then that is where you stay. This is bad because it does not give much incentive to work hard, because there would be no reward.