1. Systems of inequality in the classical era
Caste and Class, Slavery and Patriarchy

2. Classical China – Class System
The most shaped by “state actions” than any other society – Powerful Centralized Bureaucracy - officials were the social elite
World’s first civil service exam – est. 124bce by Emperor Wudi - around 30,000 students by end of Han dynasty - scholar-gentry class

3. Terrace Farming

4. Classical China – Landlord Class
Landlord Class – Wealthy landowners - could evade taxes - often had military forces to challenge imperial authority - force smaller landowners out.
Wang Mang Reforms (1st century BCE) – redistribute land, end slavery - reforms ended, Wang Mang assassinated

5. Wang Mang Bronze Currency (7-22CE)

6. Classical China – Peasants
Peasants - majority of Chinese population – high taxes (sometimes 2/3 of crops) - used as state labor - military conscription
Periodic Rebellions - Yellow Turban (186CE) – provoked by floods and epidemics - unified by Daoism - periodic rebellions devastated economy and led to overthrow of the Han Dynasty

7. Classical China - Merchant Class
Cultural elite disliked merchants - “profiting from other people’s work” – efforts to control merchants - couldn’t hold public office - state monopolies - forced to “loan” to the state
However, merchants still became wealthy
They eventually won respect by purchasing estates and educating their sons

8. India - Caste
Caste in Portuguese means “purity of blood” - grew from interactions of diverse people in India - Aryan “light skinned people” migrated to India - development of economic and social differences
Since 500BCE, an idea of 4 castes - Brahmins – priests - Ksatriyas – warriors and rulers - Vaisyas – peasants - Sudras – native people, very subordinate positions

9. Caste System Job specialization by caste. No mobility
Jati – A caste within a caste
Karma + Reincarnation
Easier to exploit the poor?

10. Rome – A Slave Society Domestication of animals – model for humans?
War, patriarchy, and private property ideas encouraged slavery
Women captured in war were probably the first slaves
Patriarchal “ownership” of women may have encouraged slavery
Varied considerably over place and time

11. Slavery Classical Greece and Rome: slave emancipation was common
Aztec Empire: children of slaves were considered to be free
China – 1% of pop
Slave Rome/Greece – Sometimes over 50%       

12. Roman Slavery
How you become a slave - massive enslavement of war prisoners - piracy                                    - long-distance trade for Black Sea, East African slaves - natural reproduction                                    - abandoned/exposed children
Not associated with a particular ethnic group
Little serious social critique of slavery, even within Christianity

13. Avoiding Roman Slavery
 Cases of mass suicide of war prisoners to avoid slavery
“weapons of the weak” - theft, sabotage, poor work, curses
 Flight
Occasional murder of owners

14. Rebellion
Rebellion - most famous was led by Spartacus in 73 b.c.e. - attracted perhaps 120,000 slaves - eventual military defeat, crucifixion of 6,000 rebels
Nothing on similar scale occurred in the West until Haiti in the 1790s
Roman slave rebellions did not attempt to end slavery; participants just wanted freedom for themselves

15. Comparing Patriarchies of the Classical Era
Every human community has created a gender system
At least since the First Civilizations, the result has been patriarchy - men regarded as superior to women - men had greater legal and property rights - public life as male domain

16. Patriarchy
Polygamy was common - with sexual control of females of family
Notion that women need male protection and control
Patriarchy varied in different civilizations
Urbanization and empires restricted women more
Interaction of patriarchy and class: greatest restrictions on upper-class women. Why?

17. Patriarchy in China Confucianism
thinking about pairs of opposites applied in unequal terms
yang: masculine, related to Heaven, strength, rationality                                               
yin: feminine, related to Earth, weakness, emotion
men’s sphere is public; women’s sphere is domestic
“three obediences”: woman is subordinated to father, then husband, then son
Han Dynasty –Empress Wu – women could own property, become priestesses

18. Comparing Patriarchies - Athens
Completely excluded from public life
Represented by a guardian in law; not even named in court proceedings
Aristotle: position justified in terms of women’s natural “inadequacy” compared to males

19. Patriarchy in Athens Restricted to the home
Within home, lived separately from men
Married in mid-teens to men 10–15 years older
Role in life: domestic management and bearing sons
Land normally passed through male heirs
Women could only negotiate small contracts

20. Comparing Patriarchies - Sparta
Sparta: militaristic regime very different from Athens - need to counter permanent threat of helot rebellion - Spartan male as warrior above all - situation gave women greater freedom - central female task was reproduction

21. Patriarchy in Sparta Women encouraged to exercise
Not secluded like Athenian women    
Married men about their own age (about 18)
Men were often preparing for or waging war, so women had larger role in household
Sparta, unlike Athens, discouraged homosexuality
- other Greek states approved homosexuality                      -Greek attitude toward sexual choice was quite casual