Pressure Cooker Theory of Revolution

938 Words4 Pages
When talking about revolution one might ask what is the pressure cooker theory. It is not an actual historical term but more one that was just made up to help students easily understand revolutions. To give a mental picture of what a pressure cooker is, it is a pyramid that is divided in to four sections. There is a top, a middle, and bottom and the bottom section is split in to two sections. In the pressure cooker there are four different classes. These classes consist of upper class, middle class, peasants, and the proletariats. The upper class is at the top of the pyramid, the middle class, of course, is in the middle, and the peasants and the proletariats share the bottom section. Each class has a different rank and a different job description. The way that they are placed in the pyramid determines their rank and job descriptions. First we have the upper class. The upper class is made nobles and/or aristocrats. These people are rich, usually own large amounts of land and are normally the ones in control. They will always be on the top of the pyramid and only make up about one percent of the total population. They also own the peasants. Second we have the middle class. The middle class is made up of bourgeoisie. This class is made up of professionals, bankers, and merchants. These are the people who are in control of industry, trade, and commerce for a nation. They may own some land but they will not own as much land as the upper class will. They live in cities and own property. With their property they use it for businesses and factories. Like the upper class, they also own apart of the lower class but they own the proletariats. Third we have the proletariats. This is the first part of the lower class. They live in cities and work in factories under the middle class. Also known as the proles, they are made up of day laborers and factory workers. By
Open Document