aristocracy

(noun)

The nobility, or the hereditary ruling class.

Related Terms

Examples of aristocracy in the following topics:

  • The Rise of the Nobility

    • Despite some attempts to weaken the position of the nobility, Louis XV met with avid resistance and largely failed to reform the system that privileged the aristocracy.
    • Louis continued his predecessors' work of creating a centralized state governed from Paris, sought to eliminate remnants of feudalism in France, and subjugated and weakened the aristocracy.
    • Only towards the close of his reign, under extreme stress of war, was he able, for the first time in French history, to impose direct taxes on the aristocracy.
    • The old military aristocracy ("the nobility of the sword") ceased to have a monopoly over senior military positions and rank.
    • Although Louis XV attempted to continue his predecessor's efforts to weaken the aristocracy, he failed to establish himself as an absolute monarch of Louis XIV's stature.

  • The Sun-King and Authoritarianism

    • Only towards the close of his reign, under extreme stress of war, was Louis able, for the first time in French history, to impose direct taxes on the aristocracy.
    • The old military aristocracy ceased to have a monopoly over senior military positions and rank.
    • Louis also attached nobles to his court at Versailles and thus achieved increased control over the French aristocracy.
    • Louis thus compelled and seduced the old military aristocracy (the "nobility of the sword") into becoming his ceremonial courtiers, further weakening their power.
    • In their place, he raised commoners or the more recently ennobled bureaucratic aristocracy as presumably easier to control.

  • Class

    • The British aristocracy is an instance where wealth, power, and prestige do not necessarily align--the aristocracy is upper class and generally has significant political influence, but members are not necessarily wealthy.
    • The British aristocracy is an instance where wealth, power, and prestige do not necessarily align — the aristocracy is upper class and generally has significant political influence, but members are not necessarily wealthy.
    • Weber examined how many members of the aristocracy lacked economic wealth yet had strong political power.

  • Rococo in French Decoration

    • In addition, the notion of the ‘salon' is an Enlightenment-era ideal that transformed the living room into the central space for aristocracy to entertain guests and engage in intellectual conversation.
    • Furniture design became physically lighter, so as to be easily moved around for gatherings, and many specialized pieces came to prominence, such as the ‘fauteuil chair,' the ‘voyeuse chair,' and the ‘berger et gondola. ' Furniture in the Rococo period was freestanding, as opposed to wall-based, in order to accentuate the lighthearted and versatile atmosphere that was desired by the aristocracy.

  • Society Under the Shang Dynasty

    • The aristocracy were centered around Anyang, the Shang capital, and conducted governmental affairs for the surrounding areas.

  • Industrial Growth

    • The planter aristocracy of the South, portrayed sentimentally 70 years later in the film classic Gone with the Wind, disappeared.

  • The Traditional Political Spectrum

    • The aristocracy sat on the right of the Speaker (traditionally the seat of honor) and the commoners sat on the Left, hence the terms right-wing and left-wing politics .
    • Support for laissez-faire capitalism was expressed by politicians sitting on the left, because these represented policies favorable to capitalists rather than to the aristocracy, but outside of parliamentary politics, these views are often characterized as being on the right.
    • As capitalist economies developed, the aristocracy became less relevant and was mostly replaced by capitalist representatives.

  • Forms of Government

    • Aristocracy refers to the rule by elite citizens; a system of governance in which a person who rules in an aristocracy is an aristocrat.
    • It has come to mean rule by "the aristocracy" who are people of noble birth.

  • Non-Democratic Governments: Monarchy, Oligarchy, Technocracy, and Theocracy

    • Forms of government and other political structures associated with oligarchy usually include aristocracy, meritocracy, plutocracy, military junta, technocracy, and theocracy.
    • Aristocracy is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule.
    • In later times, aristocracy was usually seen as rule by a privileged group, the aristocratic class, and contrasted with democracy.

  • Mary Wollstonecraft

    • Published in response to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), which was a defense of constitutional monarchy, aristocracy, and the Church of England, and an attack on Wollstonecraft's friend, Richard Price, Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790) attacks aristocracy and advocates republicanism.
    • It encourages modesty and industry in its readers and attacks the uselessness of the aristocracy.