The 1800's saw the birth of labor unions. Today they are simply referred to as unions. These groups met much violent resistance to their calls for better working conditions, pay, and hours. Over time they achieved their goals of making the factories safer places to work, with shorter hours and better pay.

The idea that one could change their circumstances was called social mobility. This meant that a person who worked hard and saved money could save enough to advance up in class from a lower class to a higher one. At the time very few people made the transition from lower to upper class though. This was often due to the very poor wages paid by most of the factories at the time, which kept the workers just barely above the poverty line.

The Indian caste system is a system of social hierarchy that has prevailed, in varying degrees of adherence, since the arrival of the Aryans on the subcontinent in 1,500 BCE. In the traditional caste system priests are at the top (called Brahmins); followed by rulers and warriors (called Kshatriya); followed by merchants and artisans (called Vaishyas); followed by peasants and serfs (called Shudras); and finally the untouchables (called Dalits).

Marx and Engels are credited with fully theorizing the process of a nation moving toward what they called Scientific Socialism. This theory stood in opposition to capitalism (which was formulated by Adam Smith) and focuses on the power of the masses and especially the working class. Additionally, their theory sought to reduce economic uncertainty, provide an adequate amount of goods for every citizen, and reduce inequality in society.

The Sans-culottes were one of the most influential political groups ever to take part in the French Revolution. The Sans-culottes (whose name came from their humble style of dress) were comprised of members of the nation’s working class, including factory workers, tradespeople, artisans, and shopkeepers. Their marginalized political status under the Old Regime, in addition to their low social caliber and poor economic position, made the Sans-culottes very politically radical. As such, they were one of the most vehement supporters of the Revolution. Their primary goals included putting an end to the nation’s chronic food shortages, instituting price controls, ending social inequality, cutting off the influence of the aristocracy and the monarchy, increasing the property-owning sector of the population, and allowing the common citizenry to directly influence as many political decisions as possible.

In the Indian caste system a jati is a subcaste, such as “fisherman” or “rice farmer.” A person’s jati generally reflects, or determines, their occupation. In modern Indian society the privileges and roles of jatis are extremely complicated and the cause of much controversy.

In 1791, the French National Constituent Assembly drafted and passed a new Constitution. The document, which reaffirmed its earlier counterpart, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, officially structured France as a constitutional monarchy, with the Assembly as the primary governmental power base. Voting rights were reapportioned based on a new system of classification: active citizens versus passive citizens. Any men who could afford to pay a tax equivalent to three days’ worth of labor were classified as active citizens. Only active citizens were permitted to vote; all other non-qualifying individuals were not eligible voters. At first glance, this change does not seem to be a radical departure from France’s past, but it did widen the voting base by permitting non-noble (but still wealthy) men to vote for the first time.

The Reform Bill of 1832 was passed in the British parliament to “amend the representation of the people of England and Wales.” Prior to the Reform Bill, only a very small percentage of the population was able to vote, roughly five hundred thousand out of a population of thirteen million. The Reform Bill extended voting rights to an additional few hundred thousand men from the emerging industrial middle class. Although the percentage of the British population who could participate in government was still lower than ten percent, the Reform Bill represents the first step in Britain towards truly representative democracy.

While the industrial revolution led to strict temperance and strong moral values, none of them opposed scientific discovery. In fact, new advances in science and technology were one of the greatest achievements of the era. Without new technology there would be no industrial revolution.

Emiliano Zapata campaigned extensively for land reforms and improving the rights of the Mexican peasantry. Zapata lived in southern Mexico where almost all of the land was owned by small landowning elites who monopolized control of land and water. Zapata wanted to reform this situation and improve the access to land and water for Mexico’s peasant population.