ABSTRACT
In societies dominated by aristocracies, class, class consciousness, and class divisions are not mere analytical devices chosen by the analyst; they are historical facts that cannot be denied. That aristocrats and peasants in medieval Europe lived different and separate lives, as the author shall emphasize; that society in Tokugawa Japan was officially divided into the four categories of aristocrats, peasants, craftsmen, and merchants. That in Britain's House of Lords certain aristocrats hold seats by right of inheritance are facts that can hardly be explained without reference to class. The aristocracy has always been a relatively clearly defined class, highly class-conscious and intent on dividing society into classes with itself at the top. Aristocrats bitterly resented the changes and threats to their hitherto unchallengeable status. It was probably only then that aristocratic class consciousness developed in response. The maintenance of pure aristocratic blood, the ability to trace one's descent through generations now became an obsession in aristocratic ideology.
