Aristocratic Peasant Societies

The defining element for all aristocrat peasant societies is the use of a command economy mechanism to distribute food. After the development of agriculture, a need arose for some highly reliable system to distribute the surplus food to non-food-producers. This was six thousand years ago. A market system could not possibly do the job. Instead agricultural societies came to be divided into at least two separate classes: aristocrats and peasants. Peasants grew the food, and every year they delivered a substantial amount to their aristocratic lords. This gave the aristocrats a large supply of food, which was distributed in many different ways to specialized workers—including soldiers, servants, masons, priests, artisans, and many others.

There were many different variations of the aristocrat peasant theme, but most of them had many things in common. Aristocrat peasant societies were class-based societies. They had a very small ruling class and a much larger subordinate class, which was mostly deprived of political rights. In aristocratic society a person’s birth, family, and marriage were all-important. The position of being an aristocrat was usually hereditary. The top aristocrat was normally a monarch. Ruling families were dynasties. The monarchs and aristocrats had a monopoly on political power. It was very common for aristocrats to fight each other for control of land and peasants.

Markets existed in most aristocratic societies, but they were not nearly as important as today. Relatively few people relied on markets to provide their daily food requirements. If the market system suffered a near fatal collapse, the aristocrat peasant food distribution system could still continue to operate. Even in normal times most people went for weeks or months without purchasing anything at a market.

The end of aristocratic society is often difficult to pin down. The market system gradually grows stronger and slowly becomes the primary method of food distribution. This change began in parts of Western Europe as early as the 16th and 17th centuries, but it was not completed until the 19th century. After markets take over the food distribution task, aristocrats become redundant. In fact, they get in the way. As the markets increase in size and power, a new group of wealthy merchants and lawyers slowly become part of the ruling class. In most countries the old nobility gradually merge with this new group of wealthy families to form a larger oligarchic ruling class. It is a very slow process. When the United States became independent two hundred and twenty-five years ago, most of the world was still ruled by aristocratic dynasties.