Social and Economic Structures of the Ancien Régime

The Survival of the Ancien Régime

In the eighteenth century, the same social and economic structures remained as in previous centuries. However, intense changes were occurring, which ended up ending that system.

What Do We Call the Old Regime?

We call the Old Regime the social, economic, and political system that characterized eighteenth-century European monarchies, which offered three main features:

• 1) The maintenance of a stratified society of feudal origin.
• 2) An economic system based on the primary sector (mainly agriculture), in which trade was gaining ever more importance.
• 3) A political system of absolute monarchy, based on the concentration of power through the King's centralization (a form of government in which decisions were made by one person or institution).

During the eighteenth century, monarchs were influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment, leading to enlightened despotism.

Maintenance of the Estate Society

A stratified society was the form of social organization characteristic of the Ancien Régime. This society had two main characteristics:

• 1) Vertical inertia: Whereby a representative of the common people could not climb or belong to the nobility.
• 2) The existence of privilege: Which allowed the nobility and the clergy (the privileged classes) to have certain benefits compared to the rest of society, such as not paying taxes and enjoying special laws.

Transformations in Society

Within each estate, there were very different situations:

The Privileged Classes

The nobility was divided into high and low nobility. The high nobility had many estates in the country and received a large amount of money from their manorial rights, while the lower nobility had a more delicate economic situation, leading them to seek marriage with the wealthy bourgeoisie, who in turn wanted to be ennobled.

The clergy was divided into upper and lower clergy. The high clergy consisted of the younger children of noble families, while the lower clergy was made up of ordinary people.

The Underprivileged Estates

The peasantry was the largest group. However, their ability to influence society was very low, given that only 10% of peasants owned their own land. The rest had to pay seigneurial taxes.

The bourgeoisie was increasingly important. By not living in the country, the bourgeoisie were free of feudal tenure, and the development of cities and trade gave them greater wealth. However, they had no political power, as this was monopolized by the nobility and clergy. The bourgeoisie began to oppose the estate society and claim more political power due to their growing economic weight. The result of the conflict between the bourgeoisie and the privileged is called the bourgeois revolutions.

A Basically Rural World

The main feature of the economy of the Old Regime was the dominance of primary sector activities, especially agriculture, and the gradual and steady growth of trade and industry.