Short answers, pulled from the story.
Social class in ancient Egypt was defined by literacy, wealth, and state control. The elite class, known as the white kilt class, consisted of scribes and officials who wore bleached linen garments, while farmers and slaves occupied the bottom of the social order. Even the lowliest peasant had the legal right to petition the vizier for redress, suggesting a level of social mobility rarely seen in later centuries.
Karl Marx defined social class by one's relationship to the means of production. He argued that the proletariat work but do not own the means of production, while the bourgeoisie invest and live off the surplus generated by the proletariat's operation of the means of production. Marx believed class is a combination of objective factors regarding production and subjective factors regarding class consciousness.
Max Weber formulated a three-component theory of stratification that saw social class as emerging from an interplay between class, status, and power. He believed class position was determined by a person's relationship to the means of production, status emerged from estimations of honor or prestige, and power was a person's ability to get their way despite the resistance of others. Weber noted that political power was not rooted in capital value solely, but also in one's status.
In the late 18th century, the term class began to replace classifications such as estates, rank, and orders as the primary means of organizing society into hierarchical divisions. This shift corresponded to a general decrease in significance ascribed to hereditary characteristics and an increase in the significance of wealth and income as indicators of position in the social hierarchy. Class society or class-based society is an organizing principle society in which ownership of property, means of production, and wealth is the determining factor of the distribution of power.
A person's social class has a significant effect on their educational opportunities and physical health. Upper-class parents can send their children to exclusive schools that are perceived to be better, while lower-class people experience a wide array of health problems as a result of their economic status. Statistics support this assertion and results are found in life expectancy and overall health, such as the 18-year difference in life expectancy between the poor and less-well-educated inhabitants of Stockholm suburbs and the highly educated and more affluent inhabitants living near Danderyd.