u/TeamUnityForIsk

I was reading about history from a sociological perspective.

It seems, from what I observe, that hierarchies will inevitably exist and emerge, and that such hierarchies tend to be rigid and immutable without a severe revolution or war to change it. There's always an elite at the top that has all the privileges and powers whereas an underclass exists to be trodden upon and for the rest of society to rest upon.

It was only somewhere between the late 19th century and early 20th century that such hierarchies were challenged and even dismantled thanks to changes in social values, human rights, and democracy. It's hard to take things for granted knowing these are only provided because of universal value frameworks and sacrifices by people to make it happen.

Yet I was wondering if there was a real-life example of elite groups who came from social groups of low status, as in pariahs, slaves, people who were routinely persecuted and killed, and generally anyone part of the underclass in history?

1. The town of Peaksville, Ohio ("It's A Good Life" by Jerome Bixby, The Twilight Zone):

The denizens of this town live in fear under the rule of Anthony Fremont, an unsettling child with immense psychic powers capable of warping reality. Anthony inflicts horrific fates upon anyone who displeases him, mainly sending people into the "cornfield" which they never return.

Following the incident which Dan Hollis is transformed into a jack-in-the-box by Anthony, which is father begs him to send Dan to the cornfield, Anthony inadvertently causes a snow to occur that will kill the town's crops. The townsfolk knows it would cause starvation, but they smile through tears and adulate him by stating he did a good thing.

2. Winston Smith (Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell):

After being arrested by the Thought Police for thoughtcrime of rebelling against Oceania, he is taken into the Ministry of Love, where is tortured for months by his supervisor O'Brien in order to recant his views and pledge loyalty to Oceania.

Eventually, he is finally broken in Room 101. He denounces Julia and declares obedience to Big Brother, accepting the ideology of Ingsoc and its warped, deceptive logic that "2+2=5". He is reduced to nothing more than a blindly obedient drone of the Party by sacrificing his own intellect and soul to avoid execution, which is summarized in the final sentence as "He loved Big Brother".

3. Ted (I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison):

Ted is one of the five humans - Benny, Gorrister, Nimdok, and Ellen - to survive the nuclear war and genocide by AM, a highly-advanced military supercomputer. AM has an extreme and unyielding hatred of humanity, keeping the five survivors alive within its confines solely to torture them out of pure spite and malice.

Ted kills Benny, Gorrister, Ellen and indirectly Nimdok to spare them from being tortured by AM. To punish Ted and prevent him from self-termination, AM transforms him into a creature that is described by the narration as "a great soft jelly thing" without a mouth, unable to harm itself and subjected to distortions of his perception of time.

Although he is glad that the four others are free of AM's torment, Ted lives the rest of his unending existence as a helpless plaything of AM that only serves to fulfill AM's hatred of humanity. His state is thusly condensed in the closing lines as "And yet … AM has won, simply …he has taken his revenge. I have no mouth. And I must scream."

Were there any elite groups who came from groups of low social status in history?

In the end, the good guys have no choice but to serve the whims and the ego of the villain just to avoid death

[WP] "Why do you always twist wishes, genie? Why do you feel the need to trick people and misinterpret their wishes?" In response, the genie explains why they do it in detail.