Society and Class

Oral presentation

Society & class

Hello everyone, today I am going to talk about society & class, I kind of divided my presentation into two parts, so the first part will be concentrated on different classes on society and what are the status of different people that let society put them into different classes, and in the second part I will talk about other exceptions why some people are put in lower class because of their race or sex.

1. Society, class & parents, birth

So the first and the easiest way to put people into different classes is by looking at their parents’ status, people’s birth will often directly decide in which class they will be. My first document is a caricature, this is a famous French caricature made in 1789 [seventeen eighty nine], at the beginning of the French revolution. Before the revolution, French society was unfair, people were divided into 3 estates: The First Estate (what we call the clergy) made up 0.5% [zero point five percent] of the population. Many people in the third estate felt the Church was too wealthy and owned too much land. They also thought it was unfair that the clergy had their own special law courts and did not have to pay any tax.

The Second Estate (The nobility) – made up 1.5% [one point five percent] of the population. Many people in the third estate thought it was unfair that the nobility had so much power and also special privileges, like not having to pay any tax.

The Third Estate (considering everybody else) made up 98% [ninety eight] of the population. They included wealthy Middle class people like lawyers, doctors, businessmen, bankers, merchants etc. These people thought it was unfair that they were intelligent and rich but did not have any special privileges or power. There were also urban workers who lived in towns and cities and worked in factories or workshops. They were unhappy about their low pay and the high cost of food. There were also peasants who worked and lived in the countryside. They hated the way they had to pay so much tax that they had almost nothing left for themselves.

So we can clearly see the system of the society in this caricature, two young men that represent the clergy and the nobility are on the back of an old men that can barely walk, so he represent the proletariat. This caricature tell us how upper class people (nobles and the clergy) abuse of their power toward people of the lower class

Gradually, most monarchies were maintained by hereditary lineage, and nobles were entitled to their status in latter generations simply by virtue of being born in a noble family. With such status went great land claims and material wealth.

2. Society, class & economic and education status

It is very popular to put people in different classes by looking at their economic or education status, so my second document is a movie, a very famous one called Titanic

Based on a tragic historical event, the core of Titanic is a love story of different classes. In this point, there are many social and subconscious messages in the film. One of the focuses of the film is the concept of “class” in twentieth century. Class is represented in an excessively explicit way, through both the narrative of characters and the narrative of Titanic itself.

The content and the concept of the film is constructed on the characters Jack and Rose. By positioning their social roles, the producer of the movie immediately delivers the differences in social classes and the deep concern for the interaction of these classes. There are many examples to infer the class distinction from beginning to the end of the film. For instance, although different social classes can board to Titanic, they stay in the different quarters of the ship and “more money” means “better standards”. Taking a closer look, the class distinction between the upper and lower classes are represented even in the dresses of men and women. Upper class women wear corsets and hats, which become the icons of the class. In addition, we obviously realize the distinction from Jack and Rose. Rose is represented as a young upper-class woman living with social rules and having no control on her life. She perceives Titanic as a slave ship and some kind of “prison”. On the other hand, Jack is represented as a homeless and poor low-class man, perceiving Titanic as a ship of his dreams and feeling great excitement. Even though their paths cross at a point and they develop a romance, Rose’s mother and fiancé-regarding this kind of an interaction as a “threat” for their reputation and their class- forbid them to see each other. Again, in the sinking scene, the distinction between social classes becomes

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