Society and Inequality

The first section of the chapter is . This section was interesting because it was beneficial to learn how Chinese society was set up. Chinese society was seen as unique in the ancient world and had immense political power and social prestige. In all societies there are officials. The officials in China were a big deal and established its authority in 200 BCE. Chinese rulers were required to send men of promise to the capital and from there the new officials would be selected. This system of choosing officials became the first professional civil service and was a leading example for other civilizations. The process of becoming an official was a difficult one and involved many exams and a certain wealth to pass. Apart from the officials, Chinese society had many classes. The Landlord class was made mostly of officials and since wealth in China meant land, they were called the landlord class. This class was often able to avoid paying taxes which put a tax burden on peasants. The landlord class due to their money were sometimes able to create their own military force. The Landlord class lived luxuriously with wealth and power. The next class is the peasants. The peasants made up most of China's population and lived in small houses with a lot of family. While some peasants owned a little land, most could barely survive. During the growth of the Han Dynasty most peasant families had no choice but to sell out to bigger landlords to relieve themselves financially. The peasants hated living the lives like they did and many of these poor conditions in turn created rebellions. The next class is the merchants. The merchant class had a bad reputation and were viewed as greedy, luxury loving, and unproductive. Lastly, the merchant class was also seen as a social threat.

The second section in society and the state in china is about the caste and class in India. Indian civilization shared many common characteristics with that of the Chinese civilization such as little social mobility religious and cultural traditions, and characteristics of social life. One cultural distinction of India is their Caste system as a way of social organization. The caste system was divided into four ranked classes. The first was the Brahmins who were the top class who were priests that could ensure the proper functioning of the world. The next was the Kshatriya who acted as warriors and rulers who needed to protect the governing society. The next was the Vaisya class who were commoners that cultivated the land. The last class was Sudras. The Sudras were the lowest of the low and were seen as nothing but servants. The classes in Indian society were unable to be changed. One other part to the caste system was the Jati which were an occupationally based group. The Jati combined with the varna system and in turn produced the caste-based society. The Caste system was a very big deal in Indian society and weakened the appeal of authority while focusing the loyalties of people on a restricted territory.

The next part of society and the state in china was slavery in the Roman Empire. Slavery played a huge role in the Roman Empire and were openly compared to tamed animals. Early records show that women were first to be made slaved and were usually raped whereas men were just killed. Slavery showed ownership by a master and was a social death to become a slave. Though many civilizations embraced slavery, they did it in different ways and chose slaved differently. In some waves of society a child with slave parents could escape becoming a slave, in others convicted criminals and their families became slaves, and in others people were made slaves but still had some protection by law. In the Western and Mediterranean worlds slavery was huge, "it was a terrible thing to become a slave, but a good thing to own a slave". In the subsection "the making of roman slavery" it was interesting to see how slaves we're such a huge part of the population. Slaves were not as badly treated as in other civilizations and always remained halfway between slavery and freedom.

In the last section of society and the state in china was by far my favorite and the most interesting. "The case of China" discussed the roles of women in different societies and there restrictions and freedoms. As discussed, Chinese women were always seen as an inferior to men, men were the superior Yang and women were the inferior yin. In "contrasting patriarchies" the main differences of men and women were shown. In Athenian society, women had no role in assembly, councils, juries, and had to be represented by a guardian in legal situations. Athenian women were expected to stay in their home and had no rights anywhere close to that of a mans. Athenian culture was very different from Spartan. Spartan culture allowed women to have greater freedoms due to the strict mans role. A man at the age of seven was taken from his home and taught the ways of war and trained. Women were encouraged into sports, given an education, and had marriage rights.