Ever since the beginning of the time, people have been controlling other people. They want to control what other people say, do, etc. They want to make people do what they think is “normal”. However, many people have many different definitions for “normal”. This causes conflict; because everyone wants to be what they think is “normal”. Social orders are just a way of people controlling others and making them “normal”. In a way, social orders can be considered bad, because they are changing people from what they actually want to be. Even in the Middle Ages, social orders were of large importance. Serfs, knights, and lords were all different groups of people, who lived very different lives. Serfs were the lowest on the chain. They had to live without many personal liberties, never being allowed to leave, marry, or even get rid of their own property without the permission of their lord. The lords wanted to control everything that the serfs did.( http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/535485/serfdom) So, what was so wrong with this? The lords were controlling the serfs in such a way that all of the serfs’ liberties were taken away.
Not only did serfs have little to no freedoms, they were treated very poorly, as we can see from Act I, Scene 2 of Plautus’s Pseudolus.
Ballio: Get out, come, out with you, you rascals; kept at a loss, and bought at a loss. Not one of you dreams minding your business, or being a bit of use to me, unless I carry on thus! [He strikes his whip around on all of them.] Never did I see men more like asses than you! Why, your ribs are hardened with the stripes. If one flogs you, he hurts himself the most: [Aside.] Regular whipping posts are they all, and all they do is to pilfer, purloin, prig, plunder, drink, eat, and abscond! Oh! they look decent enough; but they're cheats in their conduct.
Serfs were treated very unfairly, and were often whipped in a manner such as the shown in this play. Plautus recorded how some serfs were treated, and it is true that not all serfs were treated this way. However, many serfs were treated this poorly, their rights violated, freedoms taken away, and their lives were miserable as a result.
Social orders are never really a good idea, because they require one person or group of people to be the ones controlling, or the ones in charge. Different people think different things, and so trying to control everyone is never a good idea. A good example is when the lords tried to constantly control their serfs with social orders. Since serfs had little to no freedom, the only way they could think to react was to try to escape the lives that their lords had created for them. This usually did not end well for the serf. Many times when this occurred, the serf suffered a brutal punishment for trying to escape, because the lords thought of their serfs as property, such as their animals, or even their objects.( http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/535485/serfdom) In this case, social orders were used to create an injustice between one group of people and another.
Unfortunately, social orders are normally used in such an unjust manner. Another instance in which social orders were used in an unjust way was in the United States itself, with the case of segregation. Even after the Civil War had ended and slaves had been freed, problems still occurred between white people and colored people. White people tried to force their social orders upon the colored people, and as we can see from history, this did not work well. Black people as well as white people suffered as a result, and eventually, the social orders were relinquished, and segregation was lessened. However, even today we still see remnants of the animosity between blacks and whites, because of the history between the two. The reason blacks were so angry was because of the way they were treated by the whites. White people treated the blacks like they were less important, and unequal to them. This was an instance of social class inequalities. Blacks were considered to be in a different, lower social class than whites were. Because of this, whites and blacks always had and probably for a long time will have animosity.
Overall, having social orders is not a good idea. Trying to control people is a hard thing to do, and it will always result in disarray. However, social orders will always be present, because people will always want to be in control of other people.
Web Citations:
1. "Serfdom -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia." Encyclopedia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Web. 04 May 2010. .
Again, you are giving sources, but not actually using them in the paper.
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