Editing Bourgeoisie

{{Short description|Social class of business owners, merchants, and the wealthy}}
{{Redirect|Bourgeois||Bourgeois (disambiguation)}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
[[File:Jean Béraud La Sortie Du Bourgeois.jpg|thumb|280px|''La sortie du bourgeois'', painted by [[Jean Béraud]] (1889)]]
The '''bourgeoisie''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|b|ʊər|ʒ|w|ɑː|ˈ|z|iː|audio=En-ca-bourgeoisie.oga}} {{respell|BOOR|zhwah|ZEE}}, {{IPA|fr|buʁʒwazi|lang|LL-Q150 (fra)-Touam-bourgeoisie.wav}}) are a class of [[business owner]]s, [[merchant]]s and [[wealth]]y people, in general, which emerged in the [[Late Middle Ages]], originally as a "[[middle class]]" between the [[peasant]]ry and [[Aristocracy (class)|aristocracy]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Minehan |first1=Philip |title=Bourgeois/Bourgeoisie |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Political Thought |date=2014 |pages=371–373 |doi=10.1002/9781118474396.wbept0108 |isbn=9781118474396}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Göçek |first1=Fatma Müge |title=Bourgeoisie |encyclopedia=The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology |date=2019 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1002/9781405165518.wbeosb044.pub2 |isbn=9781405165518}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Siegrist |first1=Hannes |title=Bourgeoisie and Middle Classes, History of |encyclopedia=International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition) |date=2015 |pages=784–789 |doi=10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.62013-5 |isbn=978-0-08-097087-5}}</ref> They are traditionally contrasted with the [[proletariat]] by their wealth, political power, and education,<ref>{{cite web |title=bourgeoisie Facts, information, pictures {{!}} Encyclopedia.com articles about bourgeoisie |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/bourgeoisie.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161002081923/http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/bourgeoisie.aspx |archive-date=2 October 2016 |access-date=28 September 2016 |website=encyclopedia.com}}</ref>{{sfn|Siegrist|2001|p=785}} as well as their access to and control of [[Cultural capital|cultural]], [[Social capital|social]], and [[financial capital]].

The bourgeoisie in its original sense is intimately linked to the [[political ideology]] of [[liberalism]] and its existence within cities, recognised as such by their urban [[charter]]s (e.g., [[municipal charter]]s, [[town privileges]], [[German town law]]), so there was no bourgeoisie apart from the [[Burgher (social class)|citizenry]] of the cities.{{sfn|Hoipkemier|2015|p=651}} Rural [[peasant]]s came under a different legal system.

In [[communist philosophy]], the bourgeoisie is the social class that came to own the [[means of production]] during modern [[industrialisation]] and whose societal concerns are the value of [[private property]] and the preservation of capital to ensure the perpetuation of their economic dominance in society.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.marxists.org/glossary/terms/b/o.htm#bourgeois-society |title=Bourgeois Society |website=[[Marxists Internet Archive]] |access-date=15 November 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991127200949/http://www.marxists.org:80/glossary/terms/b/o.htm |archive-date=27 November 1999}}</ref>

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==Etymology==
The [[Modern French]] word {{lang|fr|bourgeois}} ({{IPAc-en|'|b|u@r|Z|w|a:|audio=en-uk-bourgeois.ogg}} {{respell|BOORZH|wah}} or {{IPAc-en|b|u@r|'|Z|w|a:|audio=en-us-bourgeois.ogg}} {{respell|boorzh|WAH}}, {{IPA|fr|buʁʒwa|lang|LL-Q150 (fra)-LoquaxFR-bourgeois.wav}}) derived from the [[Old French]] {{lang|fro|borgeis}} or {{lang|fro|borjois}} ('town dweller'), which derived from {{lang|fro|bourg}} ('[[market town]]'), from the [[Old Frankish]] {{lang|frk|burg}} ('town'); in other European languages, the etymologic derivations include the [[Middle English]] {{lang|enm|burgeis}}, the [[Middle Dutch]] {{lang|dum|burgher}}, the German {{lang|de|Bürger}}, the [[Modern English]] ''[[Burgess (title)|burgess]]'', the Spanish {{lang|es|burgués}}, the Portuguese {{lang|pt|burguês}}, and the Polish {{lang|pl|burżuazja}}, which occasionally is synonymous with the [[intelligentsia]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology |editor-first=C. T. |editor-last=Onions |date=1995 |page=110}}</ref>

In the 18th century, before the [[French Revolution]] (1789–1799), in the French {{lang|fr|[[Ancien Régime]]}}, the masculine and feminine terms {{lang|fr|bourgeois}} and {{lang|fr|bourgeoise}} identified the relatively rich men and women who were members of the urban and [[rural]] [[Estates General (France)|Third Estate]] – the common people of the French [[realm]], who violently deposed the [[absolute monarchy]] of the [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon]] King [[Louis XVI]] (r. 1774–1791), his clergy, and his [[French nobility|aristocrats]] in the [[French Revolution]] of 1789–1799. Hence, since the 19th century, the term "bourgeoisie" usually is politically and [[sociological]]ly [[synonym]]ous with the ruling [[upper class]] of a [[capitalist]] society.<ref>{{cite book |title=Dictionary of Historical Terms |editor-first=Chris |editor-last=Cook |date=1983 |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |edition=3rd |page=267 |isbn=978-0333673478}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Engels |first=Friedrich |author-link=Friedrich Engels |chapter=How Proudhon Solves the Housing Question |title=The Housing Question |date=1872 |chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1872/housing-question/ch01.htm |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]]}}</ref> In English, the word "bourgeoisie", as a term referring to French history, refers to a social class oriented to [[economic materialism]] and [[hedonism]], and to upholding the political and economic interests of the capitalist [[ruling class|ruling-class]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Oxford English Reference Dictionary |edition=Second |date=1996 |page=196}}</ref>

Historically, the [[medieval]] French word {{lang|fr|bourgeois}} denoted the inhabitants of the {{lang|fr|bourgs}} (walled market-towns), the [[craft]]smen, [[artisan]]s, [[merchant]]s, and others, who constituted "the bourgeoisie". They were the socio-economic class between the peasants and the landlords, between the [[Working class|workers]] and the owners of the [[means of production]], the [[feudal]] [[nobility]]. As the economic [[manager]]s of the (raw) materials, the goods, and the services, and thus the [[capital (economics)|capital]] (money) produced by the feudal economy, the term "bourgeoisie" evolved to also denote the middle class – the businessmen who accumulated, administered, and controlled the capital that made possible the development of the bourgs into cities.<ref name="The Columbia Encyclopedia 1994">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Bourgeoisie |encyclopedia=The Columbia Encyclopedia |edition=Fifth |date=1994 |page=?}}</ref>{{request quotation|date=February 2018}}

Contemporarily, the terms "bourgeoisie" and "bourgeois" (noun) identify the "ruling class" in capitalist societies, as a social stratum; while "bourgeois" (adjective / noun modifier) describes the {{lang|de|Weltanschauung}} ([[worldview]]) of men and women whose way of thinking is socially and culturally determined by their [[economic materialism]] and [[philistinism]], a social identity famously mocked in [[Molière]]'s comedy {{lang|fr|[[Le Bourgeois gentilhomme]]}} (1670), which satirizes buying the trappings of a noble-birth identity as the means of climbing the social ladder.{{sfn|Benét|1987|p=118, 759}}{{sfn|Molière|1899}}{{page needed|date=October 2020}} The 18th century saw a partial rehabilitation of bourgeois values in genres such as the {{lang|fr|drame bourgeois}} (bourgeois drama) and "[[bourgeois tragedy]]".

Emerging in the 1970s, the shortened term "bougie" became [[slang]], referring to things or attitudes which are middle class, [[pretentious]] and [[suburban]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=What Does Boujee Mean And Who Said It First? |url=https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/boujee/ |access-date=22 February 2023 |website=Dictionary.com |date=11 April 2018 |language=en-US |archive-date=22 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230222211123/https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/boujee/ |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2016, hip-hop group [[Migos]] produced a song "[[Bad and Boujee]]", featuring an intentional misspelling of the word as "boujee"<ref name=":0" /> – a term which has particularly been used by [[African Americans]] in reference to African Americans. The term refers to a person of lower or middle class doing pretentious activities or [[virtue signalling]] as an affectation of the upper-class.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tulp |first=Sophia |title=What you're really saying when you call something 'bougie' |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/college/2017/06/30/what-youre-really-saying-when-you-call-something-bougie/37433439/ |date=June 30, 2017 |access-date=26 June 2021 |work=[[USA Today]] |language=en-US |archive-date=26 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210626215831/https://www.usatoday.com/story/college/2017/06/30/what-youre-really-saying-when-you-call-something-bougie/37433439/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

==History==

===Origins and rise===
{{Further|History of capitalism#Origins of capitalism|Trade#History|Bourgeois revolution}}
[[File:Fuggerkontor.jpg|thumb|upright|The 16th-century German banker [[Jakob Fugger]] and his principal accountant, M. Schwarz, registering an entry to a ledger. The background shows a file cabinet indicating the European cities where the Fugger bank conducts business (1517).]]

The bourgeoisie emerged as a historical and political phenomenon in the 11th century when the {{lang|fr|bourgs}} of Central and Western Europe developed into cities dedicated to commerce and crafts. This urban expansion was possible thanks to economic concentration due to the appearance of protective self-organization into [[guilds]]. Guilds arose when individual businessmen (such as craftsmen, artisans and merchants) conflicted with their [[rent-seeking]] feudal [[Feudal land tenure|landlord]]s who demanded greater [[Economic rent|rent]]s than previously agreed.

In the event, by the end of the [[Middle Ages]] ({{circa|AD 1500}}), under regimes of the early national monarchies of Western Europe, the bourgeoisie acted in self-interest, and politically supported the king or queen against [[Legitimacy (political)|legal]] and financial disorder caused by the greed of the feudal lords.{{Citation needed|date=January 2014}} In the late-16th and early 17th centuries, the bourgeoisies of England and the Netherlands had become the financial – thus political – forces that deposed the feudal order; [[economic power]] had vanquished military power in the realm of politics.<ref name="The Columbia Encyclopedia 1994"/>

===From progress to reaction (Marxist view)===
According to the Marxist view of history, during the 17th and 18th centuries, the bourgeoisie were the politically [[Progressivism|progressive]] social class who supported the principles of [[Constitution|constitutional government]] and of [[natural right]], against the [[Law of Privilege]] and the claims of [[Divine right of kings|rule by divine right]] that the [[nobility|nobles]] and [[prelate]]s had autonomously exercised during the feudal order.

The [[English Civil War]] (1642–1651), the [[American War of Independence]] (1775–1783), and [[French Revolution]] (1789–1799) were partly motivated by the desire of the bourgeoisie to rid themselves of the feudal and royal encroachments on their personal liberty, commercial prospects, and the ownership of [[property]]. In the 19th century, the bourgeoisie propounded [[liberalism]], and gained political rights, religious rights, and [[civil liberties]] for themselves and the lower social classes; thus the bourgeoisie was a progressive philosophic and political force in Western societies.

After the [[Industrial Revolution]] (1750–1850), by the mid-19th century the great expansion of the bourgeoisie social class caused its [[social stratification|stratification]] – by business activity and by economic function – into the {{lang|fr|haute bourgeoisie}} (bankers and industrialists) and the {{lang|fr|[[petite bourgeoisie]]}} ([[Tradesman|tradesmen]] and [[white-collar worker]]s).{{sfn|Siegrist|2001|p=785}} Moreover, by the end of the 19th century, the capitalists (the original bourgeoisie) had ascended to the upper class, while the developments of technology and [[Trade (occupation)|technical occupations]] allowed the rise of working-class men and women to the lower strata of the bourgeoisie; yet the social progress was incidental.

==Denotations==

===Marxist theory===
{{Marxism|sociology}}
[[File:Karl Marx 001.jpg|thumb|Karl Marx]]

According to [[Karl Marx]], the bourgeois during the Middle Ages usually was a self-employed businessman – such as a merchant, banker, or entrepreneur{{sfn|Siegrist|2001|p=785}} – whose economic role in society was being the financial intermediary to the [[feudal]] [[landlord]] and the [[peasant]] who worked the [[fief]], the land of the lord. Yet, by the 18th century, the time of the [[Industrial Revolution]] (1750–1850) and of industrial capitalism, the bourgeoisie had become the economic ruling class who owned the [[means of production]] (capital and land), and who controlled the means of coercion (armed forces and legal system, police forces and prison system).{{sfn|Siegrist|2001|p=785}}{{sfn|Berend|2015|p=94}}

In such a society, the bourgeoisie's ownership of the means of production allowed them to employ and exploit the wage-earning working class (urban and rural), people whose only economic means is labor; and the bourgeois control of the means of coercion suppressed the sociopolitical challenges by the lower classes, and so preserved the economic status quo; workers remained workers, and employers remained employers.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Karl Marx |first=Karl |last=Marx |url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1850/class-struggles-france/index.htm |title=The Class Struggles in France, 1848 to 1850 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071230150829/http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1850/class-struggles-france/index.htm |archive-date=30 December 2007 |date=1850 |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

In the 19th century, Marx distinguished two types of bourgeois capitalist:
* the functional capitalists, who are business administrators of the means of production;
* [[rentier capitalist]]s whose livelihoods derive either from the [[Economic rent|rent]] of property or from the [[interest]]-income produced by finance capital, or from both.<ref>{{cite book |first=T. B. |last=Bottomore |author-link=Thomas Bottomore |title=A Dictionary of Marxist Thought |page=272}}</ref>

In the course of economic relations, the working class and the bourgeoisie continually engage in [[class struggle]], where the capitalists [[Exploitation of labour|exploit]] the workers, while the workers resist their economic exploitation, which occurs because the worker owns no means of production, and, to earn a living, seeks employment from the bourgeois capitalist; the worker produces goods and services that are property of the employer, who sells them for a price.

Besides describing the [[social class]] who owns the [[means of production]], the Marxist use of the term "bourgeois" also describes the [[Consumerism|consumerist]] style of life derived from the ownership of [[Capital (economics)|capital]] and [[real property]]. Marx acknowledged the bourgeois industriousness that created wealth, but criticised the moral hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie when they ignored the alleged origins of their wealth: the exploitation of the proletariat, the urban and rural workers. Further sense denotations of "bourgeois" describe ideological concepts such as "bourgeois freedom", which is thought to be opposed to substantive forms of freedom; "bourgeois independence"; "bourgeois personal individuality"; the "bourgeois family"; et cetera, all derived from owning capital and property (see ''[[The Communist Manifesto]]'', 1848).

===France and Francophone countries===
In English, the term ''bourgeoisie'' is often used to denote the middle classes. In fact, the French term encompasses both the upper and middle economic classes,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0AHZMAiFx2EC&q=bourgeoisie+French+term&pg=PA23 |title=French Bourgeois Culture |first1=Béatrix |last1=Le Wita |first2=J. A. |last2=Underwood |isbn=9780521466264 |date=1994-06-16 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |access-date=16 October 2020 |archive-date=27 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427104113/https://books.google.com/books?id=0AHZMAiFx2EC&q=bourgeoisie+French+term&pg=PA23 |url-status=live |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> a misunderstanding which has occurred in other languages as well. The bourgeoisie in France and many French-speaking countries consists of five evolving social layers: {{lang|fr|petite bourgeoisie}}, {{lang|fr|moyenne bourgeoisie}}, {{lang|fr|grande bourgeoisie}}, {{lang|fr|haute bourgeoisie}} and {{lang|fr|ancienne bourgeoisie}}.

====''Petite bourgeoisie''====
{{Main|Petite bourgeoisie}}

The {{lang|fr|petite bourgeoisie}} is the equivalent of the modern-day middle class, or refers to "a social class between the middle class and the lower class: the lower middle class".<ref>{{cite web |title=the petite bourgeoisie |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20petite%20bourgeoisie |website=Merriam-Webster |access-date=26 January 2018 |archive-date=27 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127084156/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20petite%20bourgeoisie |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Nazism===
[[Nazism]] rejected the [[Marxism|Marxist]] concept of [[proletarian internationalism]] and [[class struggle]], and supported the "class struggle between nations", and sought to resolve internal class struggle in the nation while it identified Germany as a [[proletariat]] nation fighting against [[plutocratic]] nations.{{sfn|Nicholls|Nicholls|2000|p=245}} The [[Nazi Party]] had many working-class supporters and members, and a strong appeal to the [[middle class]]. The financial collapse of the [[White-collar worker|white collar]] middle-class of the 1920s figures much in their strong support of Nazism.<ref name="Burleigh, 2000. p. 77">{{cite book |last=Burleigh |first=Michael |title=The Third Reich: A New History |location=New York, USA |publisher=Hill and Wang |date=2000 |page=77}}</ref> In the poor country that was the [[Weimar Republic]] of the early 1930s, the Nazi Party realised their social policies with food and shelter for the unemployed and the homeless—who were later recruited into the Brownshirt {{lang|de|[[Sturmabteilung]]}} (SA – Storm Detachments).<ref name="Burleigh, 2000. p. 77"/>

[[Adolf Hitler]] was impressed by the [[Populism|populist]] [[antisemitism]] and the anti-liberal bourgeois agitation of [[Karl Lueger]], who as the mayor of Vienna during Hitler's time in the city, used a rabble-rousing style of oratory that appealed to the wider masses.{{sfn|Nicholls|Nicholls|2000|pp=159–160}} When asked whether he supported the "bourgeois right-wing", Hitler claimed that Nazism was not exclusively for any [[Nazism#Social class|class]], and he also indicated that it favored neither the [[Left-wing politics|left]] nor the [[right-wing politics|right]], but preserved "pure" elements from both "camps", stating: "From the camp of bourgeois tradition, it takes national resolve, and from the materialism of the Marxist dogma, living, creative Socialism."<ref name="commentary">{{cite book |first1=Adolf |last1=Hitler |author1-link=Adolf Hitler |first2=Max |last2=Domarus |author2-link=Max Domarus |title=The Essential Hitler: Speeches and Commentary |pages=171, 172–173}}</ref>

Hitler distrusted capitalism for being unreliable due to its [[egotism]], and he preferred a state-directed economy that is subordinated to the interests of the ''[[Volk]]''.{{sfn|Overy|2004|p=399}} Hitler told a party leader in 1934, "The economic system of our day is the creation of the Jews."{{sfn|Overy|2004|p=399}} Hitler said to [[Benito Mussolini]] that capitalism had "run its course".{{sfn|Overy|2004|p=399}} Hitler also said that the business bourgeoisie "know nothing except their profit. 'Fatherland' is only a word for them."{{sfn|Overy|2004|p=230}} Hitler was personally disgusted with the ruling bourgeois elites of Germany during the period of the Weimar Republic, whom he referred to as "cowardly shits".<ref>Kritika: explorations in Russian and Eurasian history, Volume 7, Issue 4. Slavica Publishers, 2006. Pp. 922.</ref>

===Modern history in Italy===
Because of their ascribed cultural excellence as a social class, the [[Italian fascism|Italian fascist]] régime (1922–45) of Prime Minister [[Benito Mussolini]] regarded the bourgeoisie as an obstacle to [[modernism]].<ref name="Bellassai05">{{cite journal |last=Bellassai |first=Sandro |date=2005 |title=The Masculine Mystique: Anti-Modernism and Virility in Fascist Italy |journal=[[Journal of Modern Italian Studies]] |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=314–335|doi=10.1080/13545710500188338 |s2cid=144797296 }}</ref> Nonetheless, the Fascist state ideologically exploited the Italian bourgeoisie and their materialistic, middle-class spirit, for the more efficient cultural manipulation of the upper (aristocratic) and the lower (working) classes of Italy.

In 1938, Prime Minister Mussolini gave a speech wherein he established a clear ideological distinction between capitalism (the social function of the bourgeoisie) and the bourgeoisie (as a social class), whom he dehumanized by reducing them into high-level abstractions: a moral category and a state of mind.<ref name="Bellassai05" /> Culturally and philosophically, Mussolini isolated the bourgeoisie from Italian society by portraying them as social parasites upon the fascist Italian state and "The People"; as a social class who drained the human potential of Italian society, in general, and of the working class, in particular; as exploiters who victimized the Italian nation with an approach to life characterized by [[hedonism]] and [[Consumption (economics)|materialism]].<ref name="Bellassai05" /> Nevertheless, despite the slogan ''The Fascist Man Disdains the "Comfortable" Life'', which epitomized the anti-bourgeois principle, in its final years of power, for mutual benefit and profit, the Mussolini fascist régime transcended ideology to merge the political and financial interests of Prime Minister Benito Mussolini with the political and financial interests of the bourgeoisie, the Catholic social circles who constituted the [[ruling class]] of Italy.

Philosophically, as a [[Materialism|materialist]] creature, the bourgeois man was stereotyped as irreligious; thus, to establish an [[Existentialism|existential]] distinction between the supernatural faith of the [[Roman Catholic Church]] and the materialist faith of temporal religion; in ''The Autarchy of Culture: Intellectuals and Fascism in the 1930s'', the priest Giuseppe Marino said that:

{{Blockquote|Christianity is essentially anti-bourgeois. ... A Christian, a true Christian, and thus a Catholic, is the opposite of a bourgeois.<ref>{{cite book |last=Marino |first=Giuseppe Carlo |date=1983 |title=L'autarchia della cultura. Intellettuali e fascismo negli anni trenta |language=it |trans-title=The Autarchy of Culture: Intellectuals and Fascism in the 1930s |location=Rome |publisher=[[Editori Riuniti]]}}</ref>}}

Culturally, the bourgeois man may be considered effeminate, infantile, or acting in a pretentious manner; describing his [[philistinism]] in {{lang|it|Bonifica antiborghese}} (1939), Roberto Paravese comments on the:

{{Blockquote|Middle class, middle man, incapable of great virtue or great vice: and there would be nothing wrong with that, if only he would be willing to remain as such; but, when his child-like or feminine tendency to camouflage pushes him to dream of grandeur, honours, and thus riches, which he cannot achieve honestly with his own "second-rate" powers, then the average man compensates with cunning, schemes, and mischief; he kicks out ethics, and becomes a bourgeois.

The bourgeois is the average man who does not accept to remain such, and who, lacking the strength sufficient for the conquest of essential values—those of the spirit—opts for material ones, for appearances.<ref name=paravese39>Paravese, Roberto (1939) "Bonifica antiborghese", in Edgardo Sulis (ed.), ''Processo alla borghesia'', Roma: Edizioni Roma, pp. 51–70.</ref>}}

The economic security, [[Financial independence|financial freedom]], and social mobility of the bourgeoisie threatened the philosophic integrity of Italian fascism, the [[Ideology|ideological monolith]] that was the régime of Prime Minister Benito Mussolini. Any assumption of [[Legitimacy (political)|legitimate]] political power (government and rule) by the bourgeoisie represented a fascist loss of [[Totalitarianism|totalitarian]] state power for social control through political unity—one people, one nation, and one leader. Sociologically, to the fascist man, to become a bourgeois was a character flaw inherent to the masculine mystique; therefore, the ideology of Italian fascism scornfully defined the bourgeois man as "spiritually castrated".<ref name="paravese39" />

==Bourgeois culture==

===Cultural hegemony===
Karl Marx said that the culture of a society is dominated by the [[Cultural hegemony|mores of the ruling-class]], wherein their superimposed [[value system]] is abided by each social class (the upper, the middle, the lower) regardless of the socio-economic results it yields to them. In that sense, contemporary societies are bourgeois to the degree that they practice the [[mores]] of the small-business "shop culture" of early modern France; which the writer [[Émile Zola]] (1840–1902) [[Naturalism (literature)|naturalistically]] presented, analyzed, and ridiculed in the twenty-two-novel series (1871–1893) about ''[[Les Rougon-Macquart]]'' family; the thematic thrust is the necessity for social progress, by subordinating the economic sphere to the social sphere of life.<ref>Émile Zola, ''Le Rougon-Macquart'' (1871–1893).</ref>

===Conspicuous consumption===
[[File:Żywiecki strój mieszczański 01.jpg|thumb|Clothing worn by ladies belonging to the bourgeoisie of [[Żywiec]], Poland, 19th century (collection of the Żywiec City Museum)]]

The critical analyses of the bourgeois mentality by the German intellectual [[Walter Benjamin]] (1892–1940) indicated that the shop culture of the [[petite bourgeoisie]] established the sitting room as the center of personal and family life; as such, the English bourgeois culture is, he alleges, a sitting-room culture of [[social class|prestige]] through [[conspicuous consumption]]. The [[Consumerism|material culture]] of the bourgeoisie concentrated on mass-produced [[luxury goods]] of high quality; between generations, the only variance was the materials with which the goods were manufactured.

In the early part of the 19th century, the bourgeois house contained a home that first was stocked and decorated with hand-painted [[porcelain]], machine-printed cotton fabrics, machine-printed [[wallpaper]], and Sheffield steel ([[crucible steel|crucible]] and [[stainless steel|stainless]]). The [[utility]] of these things was inherent in their practical functions. By the latter part of the 19th century, the bourgeois house contained a home that had been remodeled by conspicuous consumption. Here, Benjamin argues, the goods were bought to display wealth ([[discretionary income]]), rather than for their practical utility. The bourgeoisie had transposed the wares of the shop window to the sitting room, where the clutter of display signaled bourgeois success<ref name="Benjamin">[[Walter Benjamin]], ''The Halles Project''.</ref> (see ''[[Culture and Anarchy]]'', 1869).

Two spatial constructs manifest the bourgeois mentality: (i) the shop-window display, and (ii) the sitting room. In English, the term "sitting-room culture" is synonymous for "bourgeois mentality", a "[[Philistinism|philistine]]" cultural perspective from the [[Victorian Era]] (1837–1901), especially characterized by the repression of emotion and of sexual desire; and by the construction of a regulated social-space where "[[Victorian morality|propriety]]" is the key personality trait desired in men and women.<ref name="Benjamin" />

Nonetheless, from such a psychologically constricted [[worldview]], regarding the rearing of children, contemporary sociologists claim to have identified "progressive" middle-class values, such as respect for non-conformity, self-direction, [[autonomy]], [[gender equality]], and the encouragement of innovation; as in the Victorian Era, the transposition to the US of the bourgeois system of social values has been identified as a requisite for employment success in the professions.<ref name="The American Class Structure">{{cite book |last=Gilbert |first=Dennis |year=1998 |title=The American Class Structure |publisher=Wadsworth Publishing |location=New York |id=0-534-50520-1}}</ref><ref name="Marriages, Families & Intimate Relationships">{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Brian |first2=Stacey C. |last2=Sawyer |first3=Carl M. |last3=Wahlstrom |year=2005 |title=Marriages, Families & Intimate Relationships |publisher=Pearson |location=Boston, MA |id=0-205-36674-0}}</ref> [[File:Le-bourgeois-gentilhomme.jpg|thumb|right|upright|The prototypical bourgeois, Monsieur Jourdain, the protagonist in [[Molière]]'s play {{lang|fr|[[Le Bourgeois gentilhomme]]}} (1670)]]

Bourgeois values are dependent on [[rationalism]], which began with the economic sphere and moves into every sphere of life which is formulated by Max Weber.<ref name="General economic history">{{cite book |last=Weber |first=Max |author-link=Max Weber |year=1927 |title=General economic history |publisher=[[Allen & Unwin]] |location=UK: London |id=1306359007}}</ref> The beginning of rationalism is commonly called the [[Age of Enlightenment|Age of Reason]]. Much like the Marxist critics of that period, Weber was concerned with the growing ability of large corporations and nations to increase their power and reach throughout the world.

==Satire and criticism in art==
Beyond the [[Intellectualism|intellectual]] realms of [[political economy]], history, and [[political science]] that discuss, describe, and analyze the ''bourgeoisie'' as a social class, the colloquial usage of the [[sociology|sociological]] terms ''bourgeois'' and ''bourgeoise'' describe the social [[stereotype]]s of the [[old money]] and of the {{lang|fr|[[nouveau riche]]}}, who is a politically timid conformist satisfied with a wealthy, [[consumerism|consumerist]] style of life characterized by [[conspicuous consumption]] and the continual striving for [[Social status|prestige]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Zinn |first=Howard |author-link=Howard Zinn |title=[[A People's History of the United States]] |date=1980}}</ref><ref>Sven Beckert "Propertied of Different Kind: Bourgeoisie and Lower Middle Class in the Nineteenth-Century United States" in ''The Middling Sorts: Explorations in the History of the American Middle Class'' (2001) Burton J. Bledstein and Robert D. Johnston, Eds. (2001)</ref> This being the case, the cultures of the world describe the [[philistinism]] of the middle-class personality, produced by the excessively rich life of the bourgeoisie, is examined and analyzed in comedic and dramatic plays, novels, and films (see [[Authenticity (philosophy)|Authenticity]]).[[File:Molière - Nicolas Mignard (1658).jpg|thumb|The 17th-century French playwright Molière (1622–73) catalogued the social-climbing essence of the bourgeoisie in {{lang|fr|Le Bourgeois gentilhomme}} (1670).|left]]

The term bourgeoisie has been used as a pejorative and a term of abuse since the 19th century, particularly by intellectuals and artists.{{sfn|McCloskey|2016|p=XVII}}

===Theater===
{{lang|fr|[[Le Bourgeois gentilhomme]]}} (The Would-be Gentleman, 1670) by [[Molière]] (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin), is a comedy-ballet that [[Satire|satirises]] Monsieur Jourdain, the prototypical [[nouveau riche]] man who buys his way up the social-class scale, to realise his aspirations of becoming a gentleman, to which end he studies dancing, fencing, and philosophy, the trappings and accomplishments of a gentleman, to be able to pose as a man of [[Nobility|noble birth]], someone who, in 17th-century France, was a man to the manor born; Jourdain's self-transformation also requires managing the private life of his daughter, so that her marriage can also assist his social ascent.{{sfn|Molière|1899}}{{page needed|date=October 2020}}{{sfn|Benét|1987|p=118, 512}}

===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}}}}

===Films===
Many of the satirical films by the Spanish film director [[Luis Buñuel]] (1900–1983) examine the mental and moral effects of the bourgeois mentality, its culture, and the stylish way of life it provides for its practitioners.

* {{lang|fr|[[L'Âge d'or]]}} (''The Golden Age'', 1930) illustrates the madness and self-destructive hypocrisy of bourgeois society.
* {{lang|fr|[[Belle de Jour (film)|Belle de Jour]]}} (''Beauty of the day'', 1967) tells the story of a bourgeois wife who is bored with her marriage and decides to prostitute herself.
* {{lang|fr|[[Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie]]}} (''The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie'', 1972) explores the timidity instilled by middle-class [[Value system|values]].
* {{lang|fr|[[Cet obscur objet du désir]]}} (''That Obscure Object of Desire'', 1977) illuminates the practical self-deceptions required for buying love as marriage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |date=25 June 2000 |title=The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie movie review (1972) |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-discreet-charm-of-the-bourgeoisie-1972 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602094814/http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-discreet-charm-of-the-bourgeoisie-1972 |archive-date=2 June 2013 |access-date=27 April 2021 |website=[[RogerEbert.com]]}}</ref>{{sfn|Kinder|Andrew|1999}}{{page needed|date=October 2020}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Society}}
{{Columns-list|colwidth=22em|
* [[Aristocracy (class)]]
* [[Bourgeois of Brussels]]
* [[Bourgeois of Paris]]
* [[Bourgeoisie of Geneva]]
* [[Bourgeoisie of Nigeria]]
* [[Poorter]] (in the Netherlands)
* [[Beurgeois]] (affluent French Muslims of North African descent)
* ''[[Bildungsbürgertum]]''
* ''[[Boliburguesía]]''
* [[Burgher (social class)|Burgher]]
* [[Burgess (title)|Burgess]]
* [[Chōnin]]
* [[Citizenship]]
* [[Conspicuous consumption]]
* [[Conspicuous leisure]]
* [[Cultural hegemony]]
* [[Economic stratification]]
* ''[[Gemütlichkeit]]''
* [[Gentrification]]
* [[Grand Burgher]] (German ''Großbürger'')
* [[Medieval commune]]
* [[Habitus (sociology)]]
* [[Hipster (contemporary subculture)]]
* [[Homo economicus]]
* [[Ilustrado]]
* [[Occupational prestige]]
* [[Oligarchy]]
* [[Petite bourgeoisie]]
* [[Political class]]
* [[Proletariat]], the opposite of the bourgeoisie
* [[Rational-legal authority]]
* [[Russian oligarch]]
* [[Social environment]]
* [[Social class in the United Kingdom]]
* [[Ukrainian oligarchs]]
* [[Upper middle class]]
* ''[[The Theory of the Leisure Class]]''
* ''[[Vecino]]''
* [[Yuppie]]
* ''[[Le Bourgeois gentilhomme]]'' (play)
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Works cited===
{{refbegin|colwidth=30em}}
* {{cite book |last1=Benét |first1=William Rose |date=1987 |title=Benét's Reader's Encyclopedia |publisher=[[Harper & Row]] |isbn=978-0-06-181088-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FGdkAAAAMAAJ |access-date=7 October 2020 |via=[[Google Books]]}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Berend |first=Ivan T. |date=2015 |title=Capitalism |editor-last=Wright |editor-first=James D. |editor-link=James D. Wright |encyclopedia=[[International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences]] |volume=3 |edition=2nd |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |pages=94–98 |isbn=9780080430768 |doi=10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.62003-2}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Hoipkemier |first=Mark |date=2015 |title=Citizenship: Political |editor-last=Wright |editor-first=James D. |editor-link=James D. Wright |encyclopedia=[[International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences]] |volume=3 |edition=2nd |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |pages=650–654 |isbn=9780080430768 |doi=10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.93016-2}}
* {{cite book |last1=Kinder |first1=Marsha |last2=Andrew |first2=Horton |title=Buñuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie |date=1999 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-56831-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0vgAWhasEncC |access-date=7 October 2020 |via=[[Google Books]]}}
* {{cite book |last1=McCloskey |first1=Deirdre Nansen |title=Bourgeois Equality: How Ideas, Not Capital or Institutions, Enriched the World |date=2016 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |isbn=978-0-226-33404-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ftLECwAAQBAJ |access-date=7 October 2020 |via=[[Google Books]]}}
* {{cite book |last1=Molière |title=Molière's Le bourgeois gentilhomme |trans-title=Molière's The bourgeois gentleman |date=1899 |publisher=D.C. Heath & Company |isbn=9781976406379 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T0oBAAAAYAAJ |access-date=7 October 2020 |language=fr |via=[[Google Books]]}}
* {{cite book |last1=Nicholls |first1=David |last2=Nicholls |first2=Gill |title=Adolf Hitler: A Biographical Companion |date=2000 |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |isbn=978-0-87436-965-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q8L42KtTrw0C |access-date=7 October 2020 |via=[[Google Books]]}}
* {{cite book |last1=Overy |first1=R. J. |title=The Dictators: Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia |date=2004 |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]] |isbn=978-0-393-02030-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YWUxDKN80BgC |access-date=7 October 2020 |via=[[Google Books]]}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Siegrist |first=Hannes |date=2001 |title=Bourgeoisie and Middle Classes, History of |editor-last=Wright |editor-first=James D. |editor-link=James D. Wright |encyclopedia=[[International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences]] |volume=2 |edition=2nd |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |pages=784–789 |isbn=9780080430768 |doi=10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.62013-5}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Bledstein |editor1-first=Burton J. |editor2-last=Johnston |editor2-first=Robert D. |title=The Middling Sorts: Explorations in the History of the American Middle Class |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Omg8HUiwthAC |publisher=[[Routledge]] |date=19 July 2001 |isbn=9780415926423}}
* {{cite book |last=Brooks |first=David |author-link=David Brooks (journalist) |title=Bobos In Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5R6Bx3LRBuEC |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |date=6 March 2001 |isbn=978-0684853789}}
* {{cite book |last=Byrne |first=Frank J. |title=Becoming Bourgeois: Merchant Culture in the South, 1820–1865 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=90ZHraBlhr8C |publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]] |date=20 October 2006 |isbn=978-0813124049}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Cousin |first1=Bruno |last2=Chauvin |first2=Sébastien |date=2021 |title=Is there a global super-bourgeoisie? |journal=Sociology Compass |volume=15 |issue=6 |pages=1–15 |url=https://sebastienchauvin.org/is-there-a-global-super-bourgeoisie-2021/ |doi=10.1111/soc4.12883 |s2cid=234861167}}
* {{cite book |last1=Dejung |first1=Christof |last2=Motadel |first2=David |last3=Osterhammel |first3=Jürgen |title=The Global Bourgeoisie: The Rise of the Middle Classes in the Age of Empire |date=2019 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=9780691177342 |url=https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691177342/the-global-bourgeoisie}}
* {{cite book |last=Hunt |first=Margaret R. |title=The Middling Sort: Commerce, Gender, and the Family in England, 1680–1780 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W47a6jQOJYQC |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |date=10 December 1996 |isbn=978-0520202603}}
* {{cite book |last=Lockwood |first=David |title=Cronies or Capitalists? The Russian Bourgeoisie and the Bourgeois Revolution from 1850 to 1917 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ZZgPgAACAAJ |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |date=23 April 2009 |isbn=978-1-4438-0562-9}}
* {{cite book |last1=McCloskey |first1=Deirdre N. |title=The Bourgeois Virtues: Ethics for an Age of Commerce |date=2006 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |isbn=978-0-226-55663-5 |url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo3750637.html}}
* {{cite book |last1=McCloskey |first1=Deirdre N. |title=Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics Can't Explain the Modern World |date=2010 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |isbn=978-0-2265-5665-9 |url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo9419313.html}}
* {{cite book |last1=Moretti |first1=Franco |title=The Bourgeois: Between History and Literature |date=2013 |publisher=[[Verso Books]] |location=London |isbn=9781781684856 |url=https://www.versobooks.com/products/2310-the-bourgeois |language=en}}
* {{cite book |last1=Pilbeam |first1=Pamela |editor1-last=Berger |editor1-first=Stefan |title=A Companion to Nineteenth-Century Europe |date=2006 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-470-99626-3 |pages=86–97 |language=en |chapter=Bourgeois Society |doi=10.1002/9780470996263.ch7}}
* {{cite book |last=Siegel |first=Jerrold |title=Bohemian Paris: Culture, Politics, and the Boundaries of Bourgeois Life, 1830–1930 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TnUgrSFm1YIC |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |date=1999|isbn=9780801860638 }}
* {{cite book |last=Stern |first=Robert W. |title=Changing India: Bourgeois Revolution on the Subcontinent |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kb_z1KghC1oC |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |edition=2nd |date=2003|isbn=9780521009126 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Trigilia |first=Carlo |title=Class, Social |encyclopedia=International Encyclopedia of Political Science |pages=270–275 |editor1-first=Bertrand |editor1-last=Badie |editor1-link=Bertrand Badie |editor2-first=Dirk |editor2-last=Berg-Schlosser |editor2-link=Dirk Berg-Schlosser |editor3-first=Leonardo |editor3-last=Morlino |editor3-link=Leonardo Morlino |volume=1 |date=2011 |publisher=[[SAGE Publications]] |isbn=9781412959636}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|Bourgeoisie}}
*[http://www.gegenstandpunkt.com/english/state/toc.html The Democratic State] – A Critique of Bourgeois Sovereignty

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{{Social class|demographic}}
{{Marxist & Communist phraseology}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Bourgeoisie| ]]
[[Category:Marxist terminology]]
[[Category:Sociology of culture]]
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