Fukuzawa Yukichi was born on January 10, 1835, at the height of the strictly hierarchical society of the Tokugawa shogunate. His father belonged to the bottom two-thirds of society; According to the laws of society then, an inferior samurai would not surpass a superior samurai, regardless of his talents and merits. Thus, a lower samurai could rise within his class, but would fail to reach the higher ranking samurai. Society was strict as it classified citizens into higher and lower classes, which prohibited intermarriage between people of different ranks. In addition to legal unions, customs and laws prohibited illicit unions of two distinct classes such as kyunin and kachi. The fact that positions were assigned to birth or marriage rights implied that people knew their role in society from the beginning of their lives. The lower ranks of society did not enjoy the same rights as their counterparts in the higher ranks and were therefore treated as second-class citizens. For example, the lowest ranking ashigaru or samurai would bow to the ground whenever they encountered a higher samurai. A person's position in the clan determined their freedom. Fukuzawa notes: "While my brother lived, I could go anywhere at any time with only his permission, but now that I had become the head of the family with certain duties to the lord, I had to obtain a permit to go to the foreigner. . “”In any family, the oldest man was the most influential, with younger men and women denied their individual rights. Since the system assigned a rank to everyone, those in power oppressed those under them. As a result, everyone was accustomed to being extremely submissive to their superiors and unreasonably oppressive to their juniors. However, Fukuzawa's parents recognized the right to respect members of the lower ranks. Therefore, he developed similar traits from a young age, as he treated everyone equally. Therefore, Fukuzawa devotes his work to examining the possibilities of change from hierarchical and group-based society to an egalitarian and individualistic one. He uses his experiences to illustrate the possibility of escape from such a world and how others might imitate it. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayTransforming societySurvival in an autocratic society that did not take into account the talents and merits of individuals to promote development was proved to be a challenge. At the same time, Fukuzawa believed that he had the power to change his fortunes and therefore should not rely on the authorities to improve his quality of life. Fukuzawa acknowledges that poverty taught him crucial aspects, particularly through the development of a do-it-yourself attitude. He worked many odd jobs that changed his outlook on life before the end of the Tokugawa shogunate after the Meiji Revolution in 1868. Additionally, he notes that reading books alone is not enough to provide a person with the skills needed to succeed in an unequal society. Since childhood, Fukuzawa believed that it was impossible to prosper if one did not put into practice the lessons learned from real-life experiences. Indeed, he tried and tested several attitudes and beliefs to ensure their authenticity. He refused to embrace folk, Buddhist, and Shinto superstitions because he perceived them as a way people used to justify mistreatment of others..