A social class is a group of people in a certain area with the same occupation, income, or status.
In England, during Queen Elizabeth I's reign, the social class system followed the original meaning. There were six social classes back then. In order there was the monarchy, nobility, gentry, merchants, yeomanry, and the laborers. The monarchy is the king or queen which in this case is Queen Elizabeth. Next is the nobility which included rich and powerful knights and other people close to the monarch. Next in the social class system is the gentry which contains squires along with men and women who didn't do dirty work. After the gentry is the merchant class, which is simply comprised of various salesmen. The yeomanry is next and is often called the middle class of the Elizabethan Era because they had enough money to live life comfortably. And last of the classes is the laborer class. It was built together of artisans, shoe makers, or anyone who worked with their hands. |