Social?

           Society as a whole played a huge part in the French Revolution. During the eighteenth century, the social conditions in France were far from desirable. The French society was divided into three social classes which were the Clergy, the Nobles and the Common People. There were two sub-divisions of the Clergy, the Higher and the Lower. The Higher Clergy were the people who ran the churches, monasteries and educational institutes of France. These Higher Clergy lived extravagant and tax free lives and in doing so, exploiting the Common People. This caused the Common People to develop a strong hatred toward the Higher Clergy.
              Now, the Lower Clergy on the other hand were the polar opposite. They would serve the people in every sense of the term and didn't gain any wealth. In the French Society the nobility were regarded as the second state and like the Higher Clergy didn't pay any taxes to the King. The nobility were also sub-divided into two groups-the Court nobles and the provincial nobles. The Court nobles were very similar to the Higher Clergy in the sense of wealth and lack of care for the people. The provincial nobles of course were similar to the Lower Clergy, they cared for the people and didn't share the same privileges as the Court nobles.
               The third and final class were known as the Common people. This class would be forced to pay taxes and work in horrid conditions. Per usual this class had two separate sub-divisions one being the poor, such as the farmers and sweepers and the other being the Bourgeoisie. The Bourgeoisie formed the top most group of the third estate made up of the doctors, lawyers, teachers, businessmen, writers and philosophers. They had all the wealth and social status of the upper classes but the French Monarch, influenced by the nobles and clergies, ranked them as the third estate. This decision would prove to be a bad one when the idea of a revolution arose. The Common people became rebellious and the lower sub-divisions joined their hands in seek of a change. Although the Bourgeoisie had social status and wealth they were stripped of many rights that the upper classes had, causing them to team up with the other lower classes and fight for their rights. The chart below is a simplified way of looking at the French society during the time of the revolution.

Credible Sources:  "Causes of French Revolution: Political, Social and Economic Causes." History Discussion Discuss Anything About History. Web. 14 May 2015.
Picture: "French Revolution." Pinterest. Web. 18 May 2015.

Author: Samantha Izquierdo