1. Estatist society as a model of order
The term estates-based or estatist society (Society [community]) denotes a hegemonial social structural (Order [system]) model of premodern Christian Europe based on a hierarchy of distinct groups or estates, in principle having unequal rights and duties but putatively complementary in their contribution to the body politic (see fig. 1). These groups differed in their legal status, lifestyle, code of conduct, way of earning a livin…