It housed many different classes and levels of wealth many different professions and ideas rural, urban and provincial people alike. As might be expected within such a large group, the Third Estate was marked by considerable diversity. The Third Estate included every French citizen who did not possess a noble title and was not ordained by the church. The Third Estate was by far the largest of these, containing around 27 million people or 98 per cent of the nation. This describes the complicated and segmented nature of French society at the time:īefore the revolution, French society was divided into three estates or orders. The clergy, for example, had representatives of both the aristocracy, as well as the petit bourgeoisie and the peasantry. These social classes were not always clear-cut, however. The entire country was segmented by groups – royalty, nobility (landowners and aristocrats by birth), aristocracy (landowners but not nobility), petit bourgeoisie (small business owners, craftsmen, artisans, teachers, etc.), clergy, and peasants. Prior to the Revolution, France was fragmented into different regions, and those regions were governed by nobility and wealthy landowning aristocrats who generally did the King’s bidding. the French nobility became entirely parasitic and hence more hateful” - Elster (2003, p. “The French nobility was the target both of the hatred of the peasantry and the envy of the bourgeoisie ….
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