Editing Class discrimination (section)

== History ==
Class structures existed in a simplified form in pre-agricultural societies, but it has evolved into a more complex and established structure following the establishment of permanent agriculture-based civilizations with a food surplus.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Brief History of the World Course No. 8080 [Audio CD]|author=Peter N. Stearns (Narrator)|publisher=The Teaching Company|asin=B000W595CC}}</ref>

Segregation into classes was accomplished through observable traits (such as race or profession) that were accorded varying statuses and privileges.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Young|first1=Serinity|title=Encyclopedia of Women and World Religion|date=1999|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=0028648609|page=181|author2=Katie Cannon|editor=Serinity Young|format=Print|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RYgYAAAAIAAJ}}</ref> Feudal classification systems might include merchant, serf, peasant, warrior, priestly, and noble classes.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brown |first=Elizabeth A. R. |date=1974 |title=The Tyranny of a Construct: Feudalism and Historians of Medieval Europe |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1869563?casa_token=xa2bfXJKA0AAAAAA:5otLzLJtNMA1CRIbU_7Z2MMfAIfCUfMT2xHcheV4zLlicd9qg9xbvX7QFIbkhuHMQUsUmk5-U-IquBUhg_i-54DyNxeO11Rau1YQrail6i5r7l1oTAsI&seq=2 |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=79 |issue=4 |pages=1063–1088 |doi=10.2307/1869563 |issn=0002-8762}}</ref> Rankings were far from invariant with the merchant class in Europe outranking the peasantry, while merchants were explicitly inferior to peasants during the [[Tokugawa Shogunate]] in Japan. Other prominent forms of classism include India's caste system, where caste and class often intersected and caused discrimination against certain peoples.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sana |first=Arunoday |date=1993-01-01 |title=The Caste System in India and Its Consequences |url=https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/eb013170/full/html |journal=International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy |volume=13 |issue=3/4 |pages=1–76 |doi=10.1108/eb013170 |issn=0144-333X}}</ref>

Modern classism, with less rigid class structures, is harder to identify. In a professional association posting, psychologist Thomas Fuller-Rowell states, "Experiences of [class] discrimination are often subtle rather than blatant, and the exact reason for unfair treatment is often not clear to the victim."{{r|APS}}