Chapter 5 (summary)

In chapter 5, "Society and Inequality in Eurasia/North Africa" important historical points were highlighted. In fact, some of those points are still true about our modern world. In China, there was a social structure that consisted of 4 main classes; the elite class, the landlord class, the peasants, and the merchants. The elite class consisted of officials that were of high prestige. This class was selected through the civil system. The landlord class was able to own large amounts of land and were able to not pay taxes. Wang Mang, a high court official of the Han dynasty who became emperor sought to reform the landowning situation. The scholar-gentry was the name for the large landowning class that owned homes in both urban and rural areas that lived luxuriously. This class' wealth largely benefited from estate and education. Peasants were the backbone of the labor work and were paid large amounts of taxes. Evidently, understood as unfair treatment, the peasants rebelled. One of the rebellions named the Yellow Turban, consisted of 360,000 followers who and were unified through Daoism. Daoism preached peace and social equality. In addition to Daoism, the rebellions also strived for social harmony and common ownership. Similarly, the merchant class was disrespected discriminated against and was considered as shameful profit. The interaction between South Asia's many cultures and developments of economic and social differences could be seen as the cause the the social classes. By 500 B.C.E, the idea that society would remain separated by 4 classes, also known as varnas, was established in Indian history. The Brahim class, the top of the latter, consisted of priests who performed rituals. Kshatriya consisted of a class of warriors. Vaisya consisted of the class of commoners and Sudra was the lowest class. Jati was the concept that there were subclasses within classes and each had separate duties and responsibilities. If an elite member came into contact with a lower member they were considered contaminated.