The status of merchants rose in European society during the medieval era more quickly than the status of merchants elsewhere. In European society, merchants were only behind the aristocracy and knights in the social hierarchy, whereas elsewhere they might be behind civil servants, scholars, priests, artisans, or even peasants.

During the early medieval period, the upper classes of societies had generally already been established. The elites in society were the landowning classes. During this period, however, the growth of trade meant that some merchants grew immensely wealthy. The elites, in the vast majority of societies, viewed merchants disdainfully and were very reluctant to welcome merchants into the upper class.

While Feudalism did impact the economy and cultural landscape of medieval Europe, it was first and foremost a social order that strictly dictate the roles of the upper and lower classes. 

During the Middle Ages, education in Europe was only available to the wealthiest members of society. Universities first emerged in the twelfth century, but public schools and universal public education did not emerge until the nineteenth century. During the Middle Ages most education was carried out through the church - monastic communities arose to provide for the education of young scholars.

Primogeniture was the strict code of inheritance that passed all wealth land and titles down from father to eldest son. This practice severely limited the independence of women in society, and kept wealth from being distributed among lower classes. 

Both Samurai warriors and British Knights held elevated positions in society. They served land-owning nobles, and could rise to political prominence through battle. They were distinctly above the peasants, and made a career of being a soldier. Note that Samurai were, by definition, warriors who served a specific noble. Ronin were masterless samurai, but were considered a fundamentally different class of person in society.

Janissaries were soldiers in the Ottoman Empire who had been kidnapped as young Christian boys, enslaved, and forced to serve in the Ottoman armed forces. Most Janissaries came from Ottoman holdings in southern Europe.

In the Spanish colonial hierarchy creoles were individuals who were born in the colonies, but who had Spanish parents or grandparents. Creoles were considered second-class citizens and were beneath peninsulares in the social hierarchy. 

The Spanish colonial hierarchy was headed by the peninsulares (settlers who were born in Spain), followed by the creoles (individuals whose parents had been born in Spain), and finally Mestizos (individuals who had European and native ancestry). Mestizos enjoyed some rights in Spanish America, but were prejudiced against by the peninsulares and the creoles.

Christian missionaries began arriving in Japan for the first time in the sixteenth century and had immediate, if limited, success at converting the native population. However, the ruling government feared the mutinous impact of Christianity on the population and banned Christian missionaries from the country. The Japanese government would later ban all contact between Japanese people and foreigners, leading to centuries of Japanese isolationism.