Class and Service
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I had mentioned before that the Moon Kingdom would end up as a parliamentary democracy with a House of Lords. Does that mean a house with literal lords, though?
In our setting, I made Tomo a baroness, so we will have literal gentry. But I think that this is true in canon as well. Nobility is a social class in basically all monarchies, and if the Moon Kingdom is a kingdom, then a baronial class comes with the package. In feudal systems, one man might be able to conquer a lot of territory, like let's take Charlemagne as our example. But Karl the Great couldn't hold that territory himself, so he appointed his companions, his comes to administer local holdings for him. Those comes became counts (a position we don't have in the English system, because they adopted the Norse title jarl as earl). And then those counts would get their own people to run villages, making the lower grades of nobility.
I think it would work nearly the same for a Moon Kingdom that settles the solar system, as I hypothesized earlier. And even to a alternate canon one stuck mostly on Earth, those with power are going to be seen as having a higher class.
Social class exists in every society on earth, except perhaps a few of the very smallest. It even exists in America, where we like to pretend it doesn't because we're so democratic. But here, it includes things like wealth, race, and education, as well as subculture. Donald Trump, for all of his wealth, does a really good job of presenting as lower class, which explains a lot of his appeal.
But the American conception of class is really different from the English one of explicit membership in the nobility or the commons, which is different from the Indian castes which still lie beneath today's social structures in India. Or ancient societies like Sparta, which had a few different degrees of slaves. So the kind of class system that the Moon Kingdom would come up with is not obvious, and if you're writing a fanfic you have a lot of flexibility over what form it could take.
So let's look at the personality of our early leaders, to get an idea of what society they would build. I guess this is inherently adopting the Great (Wo)Man view of history, but I think that this is likely the best starting point for the writer, rather than trying to build a social history of the future using psychohistory (which doesn't actually exist).
First, it's hard to see Usagi adopting a fixed class system. A system where someone is penalized for marrying the person they love is absolutely unforgivable, if I am to use the term of art. For the sake of love and justice, there has to be a certain amount of social mobility. Marriage would be one way to gain status, as it always has been.
I expect it will work somewhat like the British system in modern times, where if you do enough on behalf of the nation, the nobility will decide that actually you were one of them all along, and get to join their parties. The system is not perfect, which is how we ended up with Lord Lebedev (who originally wanted to be called Lord Moscow, but this title was declined for reasons), but it's not as if corruption among the political upper class is a new phenomenon.
I expect that the commons/lords/royalty split will represent most of the layers of class in the lunar society. I think they will try really hard not to have an economic underclass, but just a class that gets to go to glamorous parties and wear nice outfits -- oh, and have a whole house of Parliament to themselves.
On worlds and territories controlled by Outer Senshi, we'll likely get an additional underclass: immigrants. This is a pretty typical underclass, and there are often divisions based on where the immigrant was from, or what class they had before immigrating. It's really easy to see someone like Michiru wanting an immigrant to prove themselves before becoming a citizen. In these places, you'd probably have to be significantly culturally assimilated before earning citizenship.
Actually, it says more about the Inner Senshi ethic that they'll try to avoid treating immigrants differently. This happens a few times, with the Akakashi Sisters and the Starlights, so I think there's canon support. (Note immigrants are not always at the bottom rung, they just happen to be so here.)
I think that societies of the Moon Kingdom will end up at least as collectivist as Japan, if not more so. While some of the romantic elements lend themselves to rugged individualism and choosing your own destiny, I think that there are limits. Using the Black Moon Clan as an example for the second paragraph in a row, the core of it had to be a movement of social dissent where people felt they had to leave to be themselves. Sure it was also a cult of an Elder God and all that, but one imagines an early phase in which misfits were attracted before being corrupted with dark energy.
I think one could make an argument for a more individualist territory under Neptune or Uranus, since they employ some lone-wolf tactics in the story. But I think that more comes under the heading of policy dispute, and ageism against the middle school Inner Senshi.
In the KanriKyara setting, our other founders will largely come from Moonbase Alpha, which has a cool American leader which is of course an individualist society. But putting that aside, it's a pretty collectivist group. Space is not an environment that rewards individual action, and everyone knows it. They may not be military, but they still have a chain of command, and following it can be a matter of life and death.
I have to say that this whole post was inspired by Rishi Sunak, who can be described as one of the Prime Ministers of all time. One of his last-ditch efforts to save his ill-fated and poorly-run campaign was to announce support for the return of national service. (I'm sure there were some very good poll numbers in support.) Certain nations do this, like South Korea and Israel. It's fairly uncontroversial in Korea, where it's possible to defer service. In Israel, until about a month ago, it wasn't mandatory for the religious class, who instead of joining the military got government stipends to pray.
I think that the Moon Kingdom might be a country that has a national service year for the young men and women, coming from this collectivist, quasi-military background. Given the feminist background, it definitely includes women as defenders of the realm. But like Israel of last year, I don't think it applies to everyone. Everyone can choose to do national service, but it's optional for most people; only the nobility is required to do it -- or at least so it is in our setting.
I think that if you want to go all-in on both nobility and postmodernism, you have to come up with something that hasn't been tried before. Blood alone as a source of nobility is not going to cut it. I think Chibiusa is evidence of this, as her royal status is valued, but not enough to make her ready to do royal duties. Her going back in time is her year of national service, where she gets to mature as a person.
So instead I want to learn heavily on noblesse oblige. Nobility is for those who are noble of character. If someone wants to go off and make money instead of service, then they are free to lose their status. But the best of the country should, in theory, be shaped by the camaraderie and spirit of service that the Sailor Team had back in their founding myth/anime.
Just like in other countries, this public service could be military or civil. Working as a medical assistant in a remote outpost would qualify, for instance. (I can imagine the romance books written about such postings.)
Service as a requirement for advancement and class mobility is not really hinted at by canon, but I think all of the ingredients are there for this to become an element of society, long after the era when the country is so small that it will need all of its young people for defense. I don't think that birthright alone works for Usagi or the modern era, but needs something more. Strength and nobility shown by actions, not blood.
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I had mentioned before that the Moon Kingdom would end up as a parliamentary democracy with a House of Lords. Does that mean a house with literal lords, though?
In our setting, I made Tomo a baroness, so we will have literal gentry. But I think that this is true in canon as well. Nobility is a social class in basically all monarchies, and if the Moon Kingdom is a kingdom, then a baronial class comes with the package. In feudal systems, one man might be able to conquer a lot of territory, like let's take Charlemagne as our example. But Karl the Great couldn't hold that territory himself, so he appointed his companions, his comes to administer local holdings for him. Those comes became counts (a position we don't have in the English system, because they adopted the Norse title jarl as earl). And then those counts would get their own people to run villages, making the lower grades of nobility.
I think it would work nearly the same for a Moon Kingdom that settles the solar system, as I hypothesized earlier. And even to a alternate canon one stuck mostly on Earth, those with power are going to be seen as having a higher class.
Social class exists in every society on earth, except perhaps a few of the very smallest. It even exists in America, where we like to pretend it doesn't because we're so democratic. But here, it includes things like wealth, race, and education, as well as subculture. Donald Trump, for all of his wealth, does a really good job of presenting as lower class, which explains a lot of his appeal.
But the American conception of class is really different from the English one of explicit membership in the nobility or the commons, which is different from the Indian castes which still lie beneath today's social structures in India. Or ancient societies like Sparta, which had a few different degrees of slaves. So the kind of class system that the Moon Kingdom would come up with is not obvious, and if you're writing a fanfic you have a lot of flexibility over what form it could take.
So let's look at the personality of our early leaders, to get an idea of what society they would build. I guess this is inherently adopting the Great (Wo)Man view of history, but I think that this is likely the best starting point for the writer, rather than trying to build a social history of the future using psychohistory (which doesn't actually exist).
First, it's hard to see Usagi adopting a fixed class system. A system where someone is penalized for marrying the person they love is absolutely unforgivable, if I am to use the term of art. For the sake of love and justice, there has to be a certain amount of social mobility. Marriage would be one way to gain status, as it always has been.
I expect it will work somewhat like the British system in modern times, where if you do enough on behalf of the nation, the nobility will decide that actually you were one of them all along, and get to join their parties. The system is not perfect, which is how we ended up with Lord Lebedev (who originally wanted to be called Lord Moscow, but this title was declined for reasons), but it's not as if corruption among the political upper class is a new phenomenon.
I expect that the commons/lords/royalty split will represent most of the layers of class in the lunar society. I think they will try really hard not to have an economic underclass, but just a class that gets to go to glamorous parties and wear nice outfits -- oh, and have a whole house of Parliament to themselves.
On worlds and territories controlled by Outer Senshi, we'll likely get an additional underclass: immigrants. This is a pretty typical underclass, and there are often divisions based on where the immigrant was from, or what class they had before immigrating. It's really easy to see someone like Michiru wanting an immigrant to prove themselves before becoming a citizen. In these places, you'd probably have to be significantly culturally assimilated before earning citizenship.
Actually, it says more about the Inner Senshi ethic that they'll try to avoid treating immigrants differently. This happens a few times, with the Akakashi Sisters and the Starlights, so I think there's canon support. (Note immigrants are not always at the bottom rung, they just happen to be so here.)
I think that societies of the Moon Kingdom will end up at least as collectivist as Japan, if not more so. While some of the romantic elements lend themselves to rugged individualism and choosing your own destiny, I think that there are limits. Using the Black Moon Clan as an example for the second paragraph in a row, the core of it had to be a movement of social dissent where people felt they had to leave to be themselves. Sure it was also a cult of an Elder God and all that, but one imagines an early phase in which misfits were attracted before being corrupted with dark energy.
I think one could make an argument for a more individualist territory under Neptune or Uranus, since they employ some lone-wolf tactics in the story. But I think that more comes under the heading of policy dispute, and ageism against the middle school Inner Senshi.
In the KanriKyara setting, our other founders will largely come from Moonbase Alpha, which has a cool American leader which is of course an individualist society. But putting that aside, it's a pretty collectivist group. Space is not an environment that rewards individual action, and everyone knows it. They may not be military, but they still have a chain of command, and following it can be a matter of life and death.
I have to say that this whole post was inspired by Rishi Sunak, who can be described as one of the Prime Ministers of all time. One of his last-ditch efforts to save his ill-fated and poorly-run campaign was to announce support for the return of national service. (I'm sure there were some very good poll numbers in support.) Certain nations do this, like South Korea and Israel. It's fairly uncontroversial in Korea, where it's possible to defer service. In Israel, until about a month ago, it wasn't mandatory for the religious class, who instead of joining the military got government stipends to pray.
I think that the Moon Kingdom might be a country that has a national service year for the young men and women, coming from this collectivist, quasi-military background. Given the feminist background, it definitely includes women as defenders of the realm. But like Israel of last year, I don't think it applies to everyone. Everyone can choose to do national service, but it's optional for most people; only the nobility is required to do it -- or at least so it is in our setting.
I think that if you want to go all-in on both nobility and postmodernism, you have to come up with something that hasn't been tried before. Blood alone as a source of nobility is not going to cut it. I think Chibiusa is evidence of this, as her royal status is valued, but not enough to make her ready to do royal duties. Her going back in time is her year of national service, where she gets to mature as a person.
So instead I want to learn heavily on noblesse oblige. Nobility is for those who are noble of character. If someone wants to go off and make money instead of service, then they are free to lose their status. But the best of the country should, in theory, be shaped by the camaraderie and spirit of service that the Sailor Team had back in their founding myth/anime.
Just like in other countries, this public service could be military or civil. Working as a medical assistant in a remote outpost would qualify, for instance. (I can imagine the romance books written about such postings.)
Service as a requirement for advancement and class mobility is not really hinted at by canon, but I think all of the ingredients are there for this to become an element of society, long after the era when the country is so small that it will need all of its young people for defense. I don't think that birthright alone works for Usagi or the modern era, but needs something more. Strength and nobility shown by actions, not blood.
"Kitto daijoubu da yo." - Sakura Kinomoto