The idea that one could change their circumstances was called social mobility. This meant that a person who worked hard and saved money could save enough to advance up in class from a lower class to a higher one. At the time very few people made the transition from lower to upper class though. This was often due to the very poor wages paid by most of the factories at the time, which kept the workers just barely above the poverty line.

While the industrial revolution led to strict temperance and strong moral values, none of them opposed scientific discovery. In fact, new advances in science and technology were one of the greatest achievements of the era. Without new technology there would be no industrial revolution. 

The Reform Bill of 1832 was passed in the British parliament to “amend the representation of the people of England and Wales.” Prior to the Reform Bill, only a very small percentage of the population was able to vote, roughly five hundred thousand out of a population of thirteen million. The Reform Bill extended voting rights to an additional few hundred thousand men from the emerging industrial middle class. Although the percentage of the British population who could participate in government was still lower than ten percent, the Reform Bill represents the first step in Britain towards truly representative democracy.

Marx and Engels are credited with fully theorizing the process of a nation moving toward what they called Scientific Socialism. This theory stood in opposition to capitalism (which was formulated by Adam Smith) and focuses on the power of the masses and especially the working class. Additionally, their theory sought to reduce economic uncertainty, provide an adequate amount of goods for every citizen, and reduce inequality in society. 

Emiliano Zapata campaigned extensively for land reforms and improving the rights of the Mexican peasantry. Zapata lived in southern Mexico where almost all of the land was owned by small landowning elites who monopolized control of land and water. Zapata wanted to reform this situation and improve the access to land and water for Mexico’s peasant population.

In the chaos and tumult of Revolutionary-era France, social status and class distinctions were constantly in flux. A new sub-class, known as emigres, emerged. These emigres were aristocrats who were especially loyal to the King and the entire royal family. Fearing that political conditions in their home country were about to take a perilous turn, the emigres fled France to start new lives in neighboring countries. In total, about sixteen thousand emigres departed France over the course of the decade between 1789 and 1799. However, they had no intentions of abandoning their beloved monarchy to the revolutionary forces; from their self-imposed exile, many emigres sponsored anti-revolutionary campaigns, plots, and disturbances back in France. The most consequential émigré was King Louis XVI’s younger brother, the count of Artois, who fled the country in 1791 and then orchestrated his older brother’s unsuccessful escape attempt from Paris later that same year.

Prior to the Tokugawa Shogunate and the unification of Japan, Daimyos had been powerful feudal landowners and rulers in Japanese society. However, during the Tokugawa Shogunate the power of the Daimyos declined significantly as the rulers of Japan consolidated their power. The land, which had been held by the Daimyos for centuries, was redistributed and with the loss of their land the Daimyos also lost most of their power.

In the Indian caste system a jati is a subcaste, such as “fisherman” or “rice farmer.” A person’s jati generally reflects, or determines, their occupation. In modern Indian society the privileges and roles of jatis are extremely complicated and the cause of much controversy.

The Indian caste system is a system of social hierarchy that has prevailed, in varying degrees of adherence, since the arrival of the Aryans on the subcontinent in 1,500 BCE. In the traditional caste system priests are at the top (called Brahmins); followed by rulers and warriors (called Kshatriya); followed by merchants and artisans (called Vaishyas); followed by peasants and serfs (called Shudras); and finally the untouchables (called Dalits).

In 1791, the French National Constituent Assembly drafted and passed a new Constitution. The document, which reaffirmed its earlier counterpart, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, officially structured France as a constitutional monarchy, with the Assembly as the primary governmental power base. Voting rights were reapportioned based on a new system of classification: active citizens versus passive citizens. Any men who could afford to pay a tax equivalent to three days’ worth of labor were classified as active citizens. Only active citizens were permitted to vote; all other non-qualifying individuals were not eligible voters. At first glance, this change does not seem to be a radical departure from France’s past, but it did widen the voting base by permitting non-noble (but still wealthy) men to vote for the first time.