Days Of The Old Regime

Hause And Maltby Ð'-

Alternate Eastern Civilization Question: As mentioned in the syllabus, Champlain College will soon be converting Western Civilizations classes to World Civilization classes. This week, I would like you to read Hause and Maltby but then write an essay that compares the social, political, and religious systems of the Old Regime with similar but different social, political, and religious systems being used in the Eastern civilizations. It should be evident to you that life could be pretty hard if you were a common person in the days of the Old Regime. Most people turned to their religious faith for comfort and consolation during such hard times. Life in other parts of the world was similarly hard. And people in other civilizations and cultures similarly constructed worldviews to help them deal with the harsh realities of their lives. I will provide a document in the weekly forum that outlines some of the basic structures of Eastern Religious and Social thought. After reading Hause and Maltby and this document, I would like you to compare and contrast these religious and social systems with the systems of thought that you see being used in the West. How, for instance, do the various cultures deal with conflict between economic and social classes? How do they try to maintain order? How does religion or philosophy play a part in the construction of social hierarchy? Your essay should draw parallels and distinctions between the various methods of social organization that you see.

In my answer I would give a comparison between the social, economic, political and religious life of the old regime/eastern civilization and that of the systems being used in India.

The social and economic structure of the old regime comprises of the three different estates namely; the Aristocrats, the Peasants. The corporative society that comprised of middle class of town dwellers that included landless occupations such as laborers, domestic servants, skilled artisans, educated professionals and merchants. And the last estate comprised of the serfs. Comparatively, in India we have a lot of religions namely Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jews, etc.

In India, social structure like upper class, middle class and lower class also prevailed. Religions in India were further divided into different sub castes. Similarly, even the serfs comprised of those who were sold without including the land that they farmed or their families. Although the serfs had the right to make a legal appeal to a village council or a seigeurial court they still could not give evidence against the nobles which means that their legal rights were protected them within the peasant community but not against the lord. The slaves did not even enjoy these privileges.

Going more in detail, The Aristocrats was the privileged class whose position in society was reflected on the basis of the wealth and power of the high mobility. They had a luxurious lifestyle and enjoyed complete supremacy over the lower classes. They also had a legal monopoly in the society. They played a dominant role in both the government and military. But one major point we need to note is that the Aristocrats enjoyed all these privileges at the expense