why the characters on the pilgrimage represent a socio economic and cultural cross section of medieval life

Chaucer's pilgrims were representative of the three estates, which dominated England in the Middle Ages. Though it is important to note that by Chaucer's time had broken down into subdivisions. The Church was the First Estate, or clergy; the Second Estate consisted of the Nobility; and the Third Estate the peasants. Chaucer's England has also seen a rise in the subdivisions I noted earlier....... the merchant class and also a new group of intellectuals who'd chosen not to join the Church.