lord

(noun)

A titled nobleman or aristocrat

Related Terms

Examples of lord in the following topics:

  • Preindustrial Cities

    • In the Holy Roman Empire, some cities had no other lord than the emperor.
    • City residence brought freedom from customary rural obligations to lord and community (hence the German saying, "Stadtluft macht frei," which means "City air makes you free").
    • Often, cities were governed by their own laws, separate from the rule of lords of the surrounding area.

  • Preindustrial Societies: The Birth of Inequality

    • Instead of producing crops for a market, workers exchanged the crops they grew for access to land, which was owned by a feudal lord.
    • Feudal lords were landowners; in exchange for access to land for living and farming, serfs offered lords their service or labor.

  • Class Conflict and Marx

    • For example, in the feudal stage, feudal lords owned the land used to produce agricultural goods, while serfs provided the labor to plant, raise, and harvest crops.
    • When the serfs rose up and overthrew the feudal lords, the feudal stage ended and ushered in a new stage: capitalism.
    • In feudal times, feudal lords owned the land and tools used for production.
    • Feudalism ended with class struggle between serfs and lords, and gave rise to a new stage, capitalism.

  • The Development of Social Science

    • With the rise of the idea of quantitative measurement in the physical sciences (see, for example Lord Rutherford's famous maxim that any knowledge that one cannot measure numerically "is a poor sort of knowledge"), the stage was set for the conception of the humanities as being precursors to social science.

  • State Formation

    • Feudalism was based on the relationship between lord and vassal, which became central to social organization and, indeed to state organization.

  • Childhood

    • This theme is demonstrated in the novels To Kill a Mockingbird and Lord of the Flies.

  • Open vs. Closed Stratification Systems

    • When ascribed status is used to determine social position, fixed roles develop, such as those of lord and serf in feudal Europe.

  • Sociology and Other Social Sciences

    • With the rise of the idea of quantitative measurement in the physical sciences (see, for example Lord Rutherford's famous maxim that any knowledge that one cannot measure numerically "is a poor sort of knowledge"), the stage was set for the division of the study of humanity into the humanities and the social sciences.

  • Families and Inequality

    • In England and Wales, it was Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act that first required a formal ceremony of marriage, thereby curtailing the practice of Fleet Marriage.

  • Capitalism

    • He shall stand before kings" and in Colossians 3:23, "Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men."