Social class in Asia

a social class within a hierarchical traditional Hindu society described in texts such as Manusmriti

Songbun (), formally chulsin-songbun (, from Sino-Korean 出身, "origin" and 成分, "constituent"), is the system of ascribed status used in North Korea. According to the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and the American Enterprise Institute, it is based on the political, social, and economic background of one's direct ancestors as well as the behavior of their relatives; according to the North Korean secret police, songbun is used to classify North Korean citizens into three primary castes—core, wavering, and hostile—in addition to approximately fifty sub-classifications, and determin

thumb|alt= Cuneiform SA.KAS and KU6.KAŠ.RU| Cuneiform of Sumerian language|Sumerian and corresponding West Semitic ha-bi-ru

The yangban (; ) were part of the traditional ruling class or gentry of dynastic Korea during the Joseon period. The yangban were mainly composed of highly educated civil officials and military officers—landed or unlanded aristocrats who individually exemplified the Korean Confucian form of a "scholarly official". They were largely government administrators and bureaucrats who oversaw medieval and early modern Korea's traditional agrarian bureaucracy until the end of the dynasty in 1897. In a broader sense, an office holder's family and descendants, as well as country families who claimed such

The chungin () were the upper middle class of the Joseon Dynasty in medieval and early modern Korean society. This privileged class of commoners consisted of a small group of petty bureaucrats and other highly educated skilled workers whose technical and administrative skills enabled the yangban and the royal family to rule the lower classes. Chungin were the lifeblood of the Korean Confucian agrarian bureaucracy, on whom the upper classes depended on to maintain their vice-like hold on the people. Their traditions and habits are the forerunners of the modern Korean administrative systems in b

'''''Ch'ŏnmin''''' (), or "vulgar commoners", were the lowest caste of commoners in dynastical Korea. They abounded during the Goryeo (918–1392) and Joseon (1392–1897) periods of Korea's agrarian bureaucracy.

The Bedoon or Bidoon or Bidoun (), fully Bidoon jinsiya, are stateless people in several Middle Eastern countries, but particularly in Kuwait, where there is a large population of stateless people who lack access to many of the country's basic services. It is widely believed that the Bedoon issue in Kuwait is sectarian in nature.

Korean socioeconomic class analogy