Keith Wrightson, in his English Society 1580-1680 (Rutgers University Press, 1984), argues that status in Early Modern England was determined by birth, titles, wealth, life style, occupation, legal status, and land tenure.

William Harrison (1577)
1. Gentlemen – nobles, knights, esquires, gentlemen
2. Citizens and burgesses
3. Yeomen
4. Day laborers, poor husbandmen, artificers, servants

Thomas Wilson (c. 1600)
1. Nobles – peerage, knights, esquires, gentlemen
2. Citizens
3. Yeomen
4. Artisans
5. Rural laborers

Gregory King (1688) – fundamental distinction between those who increase the wealth of the kingdom and those who decrease it

McCandless (2005)
1. Nobility/peerage – Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, Baron
2. Gentry – baronets, knights, esquires
2 ½ - 3 ½ Merchants, professionals
3. Yeomen – farmed over 100 acres
4. Husbandmen – farmed 5 –50 acres
5. Cottagers
6. Wage Laborers

Statute of Artificers, promulgated in 1563 and incorporated into Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601, required all persons between 12-60 without other employment to “serve in husbandry” while artisans were required to serve seven-year apprenticeships. Wages were to be assessed by JPs in counties and by mayors in towns. Working hours between March and Septembers were set from 5 am to 7 pm.