The society of New France, a colony of France, did not fully function by egalitarianism, the belief equality for all people. Rather citizens lived by a hierarchy system, which is a person being ranked above another, as this was encouraged by their monarch. It was the Native community that tended to live a more egalitarian lifestyle, which slowly infiltrated the New France hierarchy system. In the book, The People of New France written by Allen Greer, the reader is shown through class, gender, and race the difference between egalitarian and hierarchy run societies and how they influenced one another. In New France, class determined your role and woman were inferior to men. There was no racial discrimination, the natives lived an egalitarian community where men and women were valued equally, and with time, this influenced the colonists.
The top of the social hierarchy in New France consisted of those in the government, church, and military. Ranked below them were the merchants, tradesmen and habitants. In Quebec and Montreal, social diversity could not go unnoticed, as the streets were crowded. As a result, “merchants and noble ladies could not avoid contact with stone masons, soldiers and prostitutes.” In this ancien regime society, people did not meet as equals, as this was…show more content… This is not to say there was no egalitarianism at all, as visitors did notice the native influence on some colony mannerisms. Even though there was evidence of egalitarianism, class structure largely impacted the members of New France’s lives. It would not be fair to say it was an egalitarian run society, as their rank decided on their quality of life and the women were still considered inferior to the men. The society of New France may have had more egalitarianism than other societies of its time, however there was not enough equality to undermine the hierarchical
