Inca society was distinguished by a strong hierarchy, with the absolute power of the Inca at the top, followed by the nobles, also called orejones by the Spaniards (big-ears), due to the deformation of their ear lobes through carrying heavy jewelry that differentiated them in rank.

Following the social ranking in the empire were the runas or mitimaes, considered to be the riff-raff or the ordinary inhabitants of the empire, who also had to do forced labor in the mitas. Finally came the yanaconas or yanakunas, who were the household servants.

We know that the Inca nation was a strictly expansive one. Its conquests unified it not only under a single authority but in a single culture, with a religious and cultural expression including the special rites and customs of the Inca empire. That is why they used different mechanisms to smooth out cultural differences. The first was to implant Runa Simi or Quechua as the official language throughout the territory

As a second step, they established a social organization based on moral principles of obedience and a model for social living. These three principles, that summed up how an inhabitant of the Empire had to live, were the basic laws of the Tahuantinsuyo: Ama Sœa (do not steal), Ama Llulla (do not lie) and Ama Kella (do not be lazy).

No one can deny how well organized the Incas were, not only in their running of the vast territory, but also due to the success of the Inca nobility's paternalistic attitude. By comparison with unipersonal European structures (monarchies) of the time, the Inca population never had to go hungry or without basic needs.

This social equilibrium is nowadays analyzed by foreign scholars from two viewpoints: from an understanding of the social classes or castes, comparing them with those of medieval Europe, one can understand it as a system of social-imperialism or as a form of slavery, if one considers the runas, that is to say from the social structures that the Inca system imposed.

Due to the above, Tahuantinsuyo deserves a special mention among the most developed societies of the time, considered from the viewpoints of productivity, art, social planning and politics, as well as its religious ideas which proposed a stable equilibrium between human activities and nature or the environment. Finally, it showed wisdom in accepting all the outstanding achievements in culture and knowledge of its conquered peoples.