Essay about Chapter 6 AP World History – Flashcards

How would you characterize the social hierarchy of China during the second wave era? • Top of social hierarchy in China Emperors officials who were culture and social elite • From wealthy land owning families who remained a central feature of Chinese Society • Peasants largest part of Chinese population - population growth, taxation, indebtedness made many peasants tenant farmers rather than farmers that owned their own land • Merchants were looked down upon by the elites because they sold merchandise made by others. • This did not stop many merchants from becoming wealthy and trying to become respected by the elite by purchasing landed estates and educating their sons to become civil servants

*An important continuity in World History among Hindus in South Asia is the caste system • The Indian government made discrimination by caste illegal in the mid-twentieth century but social traditions persist in many parts of Continuity in World History • The power of the landlord class was an important political and economic continuity in China's history until the communist revolution of the mid twentieth century • Millions of landowners fled the country and were killed

Emperor vs. wealthy landowners • Emperor worked to limit the the accumulation of estates by large landowners to limit their power • Elite and landowners vs. peasants • Landowners extracted high rents - up to 2/3 of the harvest from the peasants • State required payment of taxes & a months labor each year • Yellow turban Rebellion - after a series of bad harvests peasants would abandon their land forming bandit gangs and rise up against their social superiors this reached it peak in the 180s C.E • The Yellow Turban Rebellion can be used as an example to illustrate the larger concept of periodic peasant rebellion against political and social authorities

*Grew out of interaction of culturally diverse peoples & • The development of economic and social differences between them • By 500 B.C.E. there was a clear belief that society was organized into four great castes ( varnas) • Position in this system was determined by birth • Varna Theory - the four segments were formed from the body of the god Purusha and were immutable - unchanging

Jatis - were occupationally based groups • Split the varnas and untouchables into thousands of small social groupings based on occupation • Jatis became the primary cells of social life in India beyond the family • Marriage and eating together was only permitted in each owns jati

• Slaves were considered outsiders • Jati possessed a recognized position in the social hierarchy • Slaves were own and sold • Slaves worked without pay, had no rights, or independent personal identity • Some traditions let slaves transform status by being freed or purchasing their freedom • Some traditions children of slaves were free at the start of birth • These specific traditions offered more opportunities for social mobility than did the caste system

• Greco Roman society depended more on slaves than did other second-wave civilizations • There were far more in in Greco Roman civ than any other • Slaves participated in a greater number and range of occupations than in any other second wave civ. From prestigious to the most degraded • Slaves were excluded only from military service

Long-established patterns of thinking in terms of pairs of opposites were now described in gendered unequal terms. • The superior symbol of yang - heaven, rulers, strength, rationality, & light viewed as masculine • Yin - earth, subjects, weakness, emotion, darkness, feminine • Thinkers emphasized the distinction between the public and political roles of men and the private domain of women • Three obedience's: • Subordination to: father, husband, and son • Ban Zhao wrote that women were taught from birth were inferior and subordinate to men must be passive

• Athens placed increasing • Spartan women possessed limitations on women more freedom women from public life and warriors between 700 and 400 B.C.E. • Spartan fear of helot rebellion • Athens completely excluded placed an emphasis on male required that women be represented by a guardian in legals matters, not referred to by name in court proceedings • Land passed through male heirs • Restricted women to home • Womens importance was to create strong healthy sons • Encouraged to strengthen their bodies and participate in sporting events • Not secluded or segregated