säätyyhteiskunta

Säätyyhteiskunta, or estate society, was a social system prevalent in Europe and other parts of the world until the modern era, characterized by a hierarchical division of society into distinct legal and social classes, or estates. These estates were typically hereditary and granted specific rights, privileges, and obligations to their members. The most common division was into three estates: the clergy (oratores), the nobility (bellatores), and the commoners or peasantry (laboratores). In some societies, a fourth estate, such as merchants or the bourgeoisie, might also be recognized.

Membership in an estate determined a person's legal status, access to education, political participation, and economic opportunities. The clergy often held significant spiritual and temporal power, while the nobility enjoyed hereditary titles, land ownership, and exemption from many taxes. The vast majority of the population belonged to the third estate, which encompassed farmers, artisans, and laborers, bearing the heaviest tax burden and possessing the fewest rights.

The säätyyhteiskunta system was based on the idea of divinely ordained order and social immutability. While social mobility was limited, it was not entirely absent, with individuals sometimes able to move between estates through religious orders, military service, or exceptional service to the crown. The rise of Enlightenment ideas, the French Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution gradually eroded the foundations of estate society, leading to the development of more egalitarian, class-based social structures.