Which term refers collectively to the social groups in prerevolutionary France that were divided into First, Second, and Third estates?

• A. Estates-General
• B. Estates
• C. Old Regime
• D. French Revolution

Answer: (B)

The main idea here is understanding how French society was organized before the Revolution. The term that collectively refers to the three social groups—clergy, nobility, and commoners—is Estates. It names the entire social order that divided people into privileged and less-privileged layers, helping explain why tensions among the estates helped trigger calls for reform. The Estates-General is the assembly that represented these groups, not the groups themselves; the Old Regime describes the whole pre-revolutionary system; the French Revolution is the historical upheaval that ended that arrangement. So the correct term for the social groups themselves is Estates.