Ah, that we could actually live the primative life that is often discussed on forums. Then we might all be equal. Everyone has a dwelling pretty much like his neighbor; none are rich and none are especially poor by their standards. Even the so-called chief has little power, rather like the president. It does have it's appeal, at least on the surface. Yet even in such a situation, there can be hard times and lean years. The rain doesn't fall, the game seems to have disappeared and it's a bad year for insects. The bread is sliced very thin for a while and late winter is always a difficult time. That description fit the lives of some of the pioneers.
In less primitive circumstances, however, socal stratification usually occurs. Where do the kings walk among us? Sweden, you say? Well, they're socialist, don't you know. But anyway, there will be more than just the rich and the poor and unskilled. There will be the shopkeepers and the bakers, the skilled and the highly skilled, and maybe even bards and storytellers. And farming is not exactly an unskiled thing, although the whims of nature will produce farmers who rely on luck and superstition as much as skill and knowledge. You plant according to the signs, the man says and you'll do all right. That's what he said, he did. Up until recently, of course, the labor supply was never in excess for much was done by hand, even if you had horses or oxen to do the heavy work. Much depended on social arrangements that never saw human beings as things that got in the way, such as happened during the clearances, although it sometimes saw them as part of the property. The people literally belonged to the land. Whoever owned the land owned the people. It may or may not have been just or moral but absent disasters, it was at least stable.
But work is not a bad thing. Work will set you free. Arbeit macht mich frei. The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat. Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow is Monday.
