How do race, class, and gender affect one's position in Maycomb society?

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, race, class, and gender are basically the most important factors in deciding one's position within Maycomb society. Of the three factors, race is probably the most important. In a nutshell, if one is white, then one is seen as a real human in Maycomb; if one is not white, then he or she is seen as effectively subhuman. This reality is most effectively represented by the Tom...

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, race, class, and gender are basically the most important factors in deciding one's position within Maycomb society. Of the three factors, race is probably the most important. In a nutshell, if one is white, then one is seen as a real human in Maycomb; if one is not white, then he or she is seen as effectively subhuman. This reality is most effectively represented by the Tom Robinson trial, in which an obviously innocent black man is found guilty of rape simply because he is black.

Class is also an important determining factor in the Maycomb hierarchy. Generally, one must come from a "respectable" family in order to be considered important. The Finches come from an old family that not only owned the same plot of land for many generations, but that also historically extracted a sizable income from said plot of land. Thus, we can view the term "respectable" as essentially referring to old money. If one's family does not have a historically well-established familial pedigree, then one will accordingly occupy a lower run of the social ladder.

Finally, we have gender. This one is relatively simple: in the world of Maycomb, men are superior, and women are inferior. Scout learns this fact as she grows up and is forced to conform to codes of feminine conduct, most of which revolve around the assumption that women are fragile and dependent upon men. Scout is the definition of a Tom-boy, and so she understandably rebels against her society's restricting gender roles.

Thus, if one is to possess the most power in Maycomb, one must be white, male, and come from an "respectable" family.