Editing Bourgeoisie (section)

===Literature===
[[File:Thomas Mann in 1926.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Thomas Mann]] (1875–1955) portrayed the moral, intellectual, and physical decadence of the German upper bourgeoisie in the novel ''[[Buddenbrooks]]'' (1926).]]

''[[Buddenbrooks]]'' (1901), by [[Thomas Mann]] (1875–1955), chronicles the [[Morality|moral]], intellectual, and [[Human inbreeding|physical]] decay of a rich family through its declines, material and spiritual, in the course of four generations, beginning with the [[Patriarchy|patriarch]] Johann Buddenbrook Sr. and his son, Johann Buddenbrook Jr., who are typically successful German businessmen; each is a reasonable man of solid character.

Yet, in the children of Buddenbrook Jr., the materially comfortable style of life provided by the dedication to solid, middle-class [[Value system|values]] elicits decadence: The fickle daughter, Toni, lacks and does not seek a purpose in life; son Christian is honestly decadent, and lives the life of a ne'er-do-well; and the businessman son, Thomas, who assumes command of the Buddenbrook family fortune, occasionally falters from middle-class solidity by being interested in art and philosophy, the impractical [[Intellectualism|life of the mind]], which, to the bourgeoisie, is the epitome of social, moral, and material decadence.{{sfn|Benét|1987|p=118, 137}}<ref>{{cite book |first=Charles |last=Neider |title=The Stature of Thomas Mann |date=1968}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Wolfgang |last=Beutin |title=A history of German Literature: From the Beginnings to the Present Day |date=1993 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=0-415-06034-6 |page=433}}</ref>

''[[Babbitt (novel)|Babbitt]]'' (1922), by [[Sinclair Lewis]] (1885–1951), satirizes the American bourgeois George Follansbee Babbitt, a middle-aged [[realtor]], [[Boosterism|booster]], and joiner in the Midwestern city of Zenith, who – despite being unimaginative, self-important, and hopelessly conformist and middle-class – is aware that there must be more to life than money and the [[Conspicuous consumption|consumption]] of the best things that money can buy. Nevertheless, he fears [[Ostracism|being excluded]] from the mainstream of society more than he does living for himself, by [[Authenticity (philosophy)|being true to himself]] – his heart-felt flirtations with independence (dabbling in [[Liberalism|liberal politics]] and a love affair with a pretty widow) come to naught because he is existentially afraid.[[File:Luis Buñuel.JPG|thumb|right|upright|The Spanish cinéast [[Luis Buñuel]] (1900–83) depicted the tortuous mentality and self-destructive hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie.]]

Yet, George F. Babbitt sublimates his desire for self-respect, and encourages his son to rebel against the conformity that results from bourgeois prosperity, by recommending that he be true to himself:

{{Blockquote|Don't be scared of the family. No, nor all of zenith. Nor of yourself, the way I've been.{{sfn|Benét|1987|p=65}}}}