Sorai was a supporter of the samurai class. While most old institution decline because of leadership problems, the samurai, he felt, were best able to solve this problem with a system of rewards and punishment. Sorai also saw problems with the merchant class at the time: he accused them of conspiring to lock prices. He did not support the lower classes either, though. He argued, "What possible value can there be for the common people to overreach their proper station in life and study such books [as the Confucian classics]?"