Editing Peasant (section)

==Social position==
[[File:Farmers in a cottage in Savonia, Finland (25183314403).jpg|thumb|[[Finland|Finnish]] [[Savonia (historical province)|Savonian]] farmers at a cottage in early 19th century; by Pehr Hilleström and J. F. Martin]]

Peasants typically made up the majority of the agricultural labour force in a [[pre-industrial society]]. The majority of the people—according to one estimate 85% of the population—in the Middle Ages were peasants.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Alixe Bovey |author-link=Alixe Bovey |title=Peasants and their role in rural life |url=https://www.bl.uk/the-middle-ages/articles/peasants-and-their-role-in-rural-life |website=The British Library |publisher=[[British Library]] |access-date=4 July 2020 |date=30 Apr 2015 |archive-date=23 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323232802/https://www.bl.uk/the-middle-ages/articles/peasants-and-their-role-in-rural-life |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Though "peasant" is a word of loose application, once a [[market economy]] had taken root, the term ''peasant proprietors'' was frequently used to describe the traditional rural population in countries where [[smallholder]]s farmed much of the land. More generally, the word "peasant" is sometimes used to refer pejoratively to those considered to be "lower class", perhaps defined by poorer education and/or a lower income.{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}}