At the time Chaucer was living there was a lot of upheaval in the social system. Social levels were breaking down where the significance of a hierarchy had been in place many years. Although this break down helped Chaucer move up the social ladder and gave him opportunities that he otherwise would not have had, Chaucer was never comfortable with the change in society levels. The Canterbury Tales used the pilgrimage to allow all the different types of people to associate together where they might never have in real life.
