The first section of this work examines social relations in the ancient world, with special attention to the social verticality that was so central to Roman sensibilities. Chapter one adopts a static, snapshot approach to Roman social organization. I will survey the various status groupings of the empire, as the ancients understood them, and then illustrate the ways in which the social hierarchy found expression in public life. The second chapter takes a more dynamic approach to the topic. Particular attention will be directed to the incessant preoccupation with the preservation and acquisition of honor characteristic of Roman elite social praxis and to the replication of these honor-related values and types of behavior at every level of society.

Social stratification in the Roman world

James Littlejohn has defined social stratification as “the name under which sociologists study inequality in society, i.e., the unequal distribution of goods and services, rights and obligations, power and prestige.” Gerhard Lenski, in his seminal treatment of the subject, similarly described social stratification as “the distributive process in human societies – the process by which scarce values are distributed.” Social stratification is inherent in the human species. The forms and degrees of inequality vary considerably, however, from one society to another. Lenski has been particularly helpful in clarifying these cultural distinctions through the construction of a fivefold typology of human societies based on ecology and technology.