Is today's world simply a large-scale feudal society?

[Shinova]

Think about it. Each different nations are like individual noble houses, with their own people, dwellings, materials, etc, etc. All of them competing against each other for money, power, and status.

Many here have said that a world government would be really really bad. In that case, there will have to be more than several nations on the planet, which means a semblance of feudalistic society will have to still exist.


So, is our world a very large scale feudal society?

[Peregrin Toker]

Modern-day society resembles feudalism in that it's rather hierarchial and divided into several factions, but I think most of the resemblance ends there.

[The Dark]

Nah. The US is a mediaocracy. For most people, the popular media determines what they eat, drink, wear, and think. It's frightening to think that people will get their entire life's information from Fox News.

[Zoink]

Not really. You could try to make a parallel between economic dependance and the feudel system, but people still have the freedom to move and start new jobs.

The last remnants of Europes feudal system died out around 1820 in Scotland (I believe Scotland was the last). At that time peasants lived on land owned by a landlord. You were not slaves per se, but you were bonded to the land (ie. could not move), sold with the land, and were required to farm it. You couldn't move, change jobs, or even get married without the permission of your landlord.

Around 1820, the anti-slavery movement was kicking in and this system was labeled "white slavery" by many. They changed the laws to make this system unprofitable, most landlords forcively deported their tenants and replaced them with sheep. The community I grew up in was founded by such immigrants, an entire Scottish community that was uprooted and moved to Canada circa 1820.

[Zac Naloen]

No, russia still had a feudalistic society after that time, i can't remember the exact date but the liberation of the serfs didn't start until the second half of the 19th centuary... i don't think

[StimNeuro]

Nah. The US is a mediaocracy. For most people, the popular media determines what they eat, drink, wear, and think. It's frightening to think that people will get their entire life's information from Fox News.

When did Fox News become popular media? Don't NBC, ABC, and Fox have many more viewers than Fox News?

[Peregrin Toker]

No, russia still had a feudalistic society after that time, i can't remember the exact date but the liberation of the serfs didn't start until the second half of the 19th centuary... i don't think

I think it might first have started around 1900, I think. Some people imply that the slow speed of the liberation of the serfs might have fuelled the growing Communist movement, but I can't confirm this.

[Zac Naloen]

Thats pretty much the impression i got from history, the 1905 "dress rehearsal" revolution took place because the Tsar, Csar, Czar (whatever ) didn't care too much about his subjects, and therefore stopped any reform from taking place after Alexander died, the only tsar who really cared for the Serfs, the 1920 revolution took place because the promises made in 1905 didn't stick.

[SyntaxVorlon]

There are certain elements that can be compared to feudal societies, but such resemblances are writ in water. The heirarchy is basically ALL that feudal society was, they formed customs and rules, but it was all just an expression of heirarchy over the population. In modern life, popular consent is more powerful than it was then. The lords tend to migrate into and out of power far more gracefully and peacibly than in mediavel France. Indeed, no feudalism has really truly existed in western society beyond a truly LOW scale for the past century. Tsarist Russia being the exception, and barely at that. Absolutism took over during a philosophical upheaval in the 17th and 18th Cs, and that was monarchy that was organized, with minstries and aristos, instead of warriors and warrior chiefs.
Feudalism has been dead for a while because it cannot compete with the organization that more modern nation states use. It was little more than a technologically advanced form of tribal rule.

[The Dark]

Nah. The US is a mediaocracy. For most people, the popular media determines what they eat, drink, wear, and think. It's frightening to think that people will get their entire life's information from Fox News.

When did Fox News become popular media? Don't NBC, ABC, and Fox have many more viewers than Fox News?

Sure. But the thought of anyone relying solely on Fox News scares me. CNN probably has more than Faux News, I was just picking out the worst example in this case. The thought of anyone relying solely on their nation's news services for information is somewhat frightening, since the media can and will be less than totally honest. My local newspaper is known as the Slantinel, because no story is presented objectively. The media doesn't try to present the truth any more; they try to present their political viewpoints as favorably as possible.

[Xenophobe3691]

Nah. The US is a mediaocracy. For most people, the popular media determines what they eat, drink, wear, and think. It's frightening to think that people will get their entire life's information from Fox News.

When did Fox News become popular media? Don't NBC, ABC, and Fox have many more viewers than Fox News?

Fox News is the only American News channel available outside the U.S. I had to watch that shit for 2 weeks, and frankly that's enough for five lifetimes. Just watching Anne Coulter talk about Ahnuld...*Shudder*...

"Well, he's not a conservative, but..."

God Damn *(#&$

[Zac Naloen]

I can get CNN and NBC, but i can't get fox... you sure you don't mean, only news channel not available outside the U.S?