Contents Preface ix    I. AN ATTEMPT TO DEFINE CLASS AND SOCIAL CLASS 1    Economic Aspect of Class and Social Class 1 Occupational and social hierarchies 4 Wealth and social status 12 The uses to which wealth is put 19    Political Aspects of Definition of Class and Social Class 22 Social status and the class struggle 23 Class consciousness and social class consciousness 26    Religion, Nationality, and Race: Significance for Social Class 29 Class aspects of religion 32 Nationality and social class 34 Race and social class 36    Fame, Notoriety, and Social Class 45    Legal Classes and Social Classes 48 Social ranks among criminals 49 Social differences among slaves 50 Redemptionists of varied social status 53 Social classes among the nobility 54    Subjective Definitions of Social Class 56 Common ways and ideals 57 Social class standing a birthright 58 Refined definitions of social class 61 Definition 66    II. AN ANALYSIS OF CASTE AND SOCIAL DISTANCE 67    Caste used interchangeably with class 68 Caste used to mean hereditary status 70 Caste used to mean hereditary function 72 Caste given a racial base 74    What is Caste? 75 An introductory definition of caste 77 Caste is not social status 79 Caste is not identified with occupation 83 Refined definitions of caste 84 The relation of social class to caste 87 The nature of social distance 88    III. WIDESPREAD SOCIAL CLASS RIGIDITY 91    The pre-rigid stage, before the genesis of social inequality 91 The genesis of social inequality 93 Hereditary Status 96 Mayas and Aztecs 98 The Peruvians 100 African Tribes 102 The main line of Occidental history 103 Early Gaul 107 The early Teutonic tribes 108 Other illustrations of widespread social class rigidity 111 Conclusion 112    IV. MECHANISMS TENDING TO MAINTAIN SOCIAL CLASS RIGIDITY 115    Retention of the gens 117 Rules against inter-class marriage 118 Protection 119 Monopoly of religion 120 Insignia 122 Enslavement 123 Clean and dirty 124 Monopoly of a trade or business 125 Wealth and Property 126 Government and close connection with government 128 Interests 130 Marriage and family customs 132 Specialization in etiquette and fashion 133 Secrecy and snobbery 135 Regard for genealogy 136 Conquest and war 138 Primogeniture and entail 141 The use of ancient callings 142 Education and apprenticeship 143 Ecological factors 145 Serfdom and peonage 146 Prestige of all things old 147 Soll und Haben 148 The enemy alien 149 Priority 151 Charisma and other personal qualities 152 Summary 155    V. SOCIAL CLASS RIGIDITIES IN GREECE AND THE ROMAN REPUBLIC 157    Early Greece 158 Sparta 162 Effect of the right to vote upon social inequality 163 Greek and modern parallels and contrasts 165 Preliminary statement about Roman classes 167 Early Rome 168 Who were the patricians? 169 Who were the plebs? 171 The legal and political rise of plebeian elements 172 The Republic reaches middle age 174 The rôle of wealth -- the equites 176 The last days of the Republic 177 The middle classes 180 Slaves and the Roman proletariat 181    VI. CLASS RIGIDITIES IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE 183    Proscription and death 184 The new aristocracy and the rôle of wealth 186 The plebs of the early Empire 189 Slaves and ex-slaves in the early Empire 190 The disintegration of Roman civilization 193 Retrenchment and stabilization in the East 197 Social class trends in the West 200 Social mobility evaluated 201 Social class aspects of the invasion 203 Conclusion 206    VII. CONQUEST AND SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IN GAUL AND EARLY FRANCE 207    The Roman aristocracy in Gaul 209 Rome, religion, and the bishops 210 Roman society in the Merovingian Age 211 The German nobility purged 213 More proof of social class rigidity 215 Conquest -- theory and fact 216 Outright denial of race-conquest theory 220 The Norman Conquest 224    VIII. SOCIAL CLASS RIGIDITIES IN THE PERIOD FROM FEUDALISM TO INDUSTRIALISM 230    The classes at the outset of feudalism 231 Agricultural feudalism 233 Shifts and changes among serfs 237 Social classes in the early towns 242 The early gilds 245 Entrance into gilds open to talent? 247 The decline of the craft gilds 253 The development of early capitalism 254 Social class aspects of commercial enterprise 257 The laboring classes 261 The bourgeois classes 264 The nobility and descendants of noblemen during the age of commercial expansion 267 Social class rigidities at the end of the eighteenth century 269 Conclusion 271    IX. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND SOCIAL CLASS 273 Opinion divided on social class implications of new age 273 Opinion divided as to the facts of social class in the new age of industrial capitalism 277 The social structure of the age of individualism 283 The middle classes 286 The upper classes: nobility and haute bourgeoisie 291 Conclusion 293    X. THE AMERICAN DREAM 296    Versions of the American Dream 297 A modest appraisal of opportunity 312    XI. SOCIAL CLASS RIGIDITIES IN COLONIAL AMERICA 316    The lower classes in the American colonies 316 The middle classes in colonial society 319 Social class continuity from Europe to America 320 The upper classes in colonial times 324 The Virginia Colony and State 329 Virginia before 1650 331 Virginian social classes in the period from 1650 to 1725 336 Slaves and free blacks 341 Indentured servants 342 Misery among poor whites 344 The middle class 348 The aristocrats of Virginia 350 Conclusion 356    XII. THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT 358    The door of equal opportunity 358 The westward movement of the different social strata 362 The westward movement of the upper and middle classes 364 The westward movement of the lower classes 374 The Scotch-Irish 386 Tenants become owners 388 The Polish Peasant 390 Conclusion 391    XIII. HYPOTHESES, THEORIES, AND STATISTICS ON SOCIAL MOBILITY 392    Generalized interpretations 393 Statistical studies in social ascent and descent 400 Downward Circulation 417 The élite 421 Conclusion 425    Supplement I. A statistical study of prominent marriages 426 Conclusion 429 Supplement II. Social class in smaller places 433 Conclusion 439 Editorial comment on social class 440 Supplement III. Social class backgrounds of college faculty 445    XIV. Part I. HEREDITY AND SOCIAL STATUS 451    Divergent opinions about heredity and social status 451 Sir Francis Galton 459 Other studies 465 Social class transmission 467 Conclusion 469 Part II. EDUCATION AND THE SOCIAL CLASSES 470 Ideas and opinions 472 Conclusion 472    XV. Part I. THE MIDDLE CLASS 479 The barriers between the middle classes and their superiors and inferiors 480 Racial and nationality factors in regard to class barriers 486 The bureaucrats 491 Part II. WAR AND TOTALITARIAN INFLUENCES ON SOCIAL CLASS 493 The destruction of social systems by totalitarians 493 Exiled and crushed middle and upper classes 495 War 499 Social class in militarized democracies 503 Part III. ARE SOCIAL CLASSES A GOOD THING? 507 Opinions in favor of a system of social classes 507 Opinions against a system of social classes 512 Conclusion 513    XVI. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 516 BIBLIOGRAPHY 520 APPENDIX I: THE DISTRIBUTION OF PROPERTIES IN NORTH IRELAND 534 APPENDIX II: SOCIAL FACTORS IN THE RISE OF BLACKS 541 APPENDIX III: CASE HISTORIES: VIRGINIA, IOWA, OHIO 594 Part I. Case histories of Virginians 547 Part II. Iowa 583 Part III. Ohio 594 Next Page