Bourgeois
Sculptor Louise's surname
Bourgeois refers to the middle class, especially those focused on material comfort, conventional values, and social respectability.
The word carries a whiff of disapproval—suggesting people who are smug, conservative, or obsessed with property and status: Their bourgeois tastes ran to matching furniture and safe investments.
In Marxist theory, the bourgeoisie is the capitalist class that owns the means of production, opposed to the proletariat.
The adjective describes anything characteristic of middle-class attitudes: bourgeois morality, bourgeois aspirations.
Private ownership supporter
- exploiterOne who uses unfairly
- oppressorOne who dominates cruelly
- reactionaryAnti-progress political stance
- counter-revolutionaryOpposes radical political upheaval
decadent · parasitic · alienation · proletariat · dialectical · materialist · ideology · superstructure
One following accepted norms
- materialisticPrioritizing physical wealth
- conventionalFollowing accepted practices
- conservativeCautious about altering customs
- status-seekingPursuing higher position
acquisitive · consumerist · aspirational · respectable · proper · traditionalist · family-oriented · risk-averse
Intermediate socioeconomic group
- pettyOf little importance
- capitalistPrivate ownership supporter
- propertiedOwning substantial assets
- affluentHaving abundant financial resources
comfortable · respectable · conventional · merchant · shopkeeper · tradesman · professional · white-collar
Male resident of town
- citizenLegal national member
- guildProfessional mutual-aid society
- commonerNon-noble person
- freemanUnchained person with rights
chartered · municipal · civic · urban · Renaissance · Enlightenment · industrialist · Victorian
Tasteless, garish art
- tastelessHaving no flavor
- gaudyTastelessly ornate
- pretentiousFalsely grand or important
- ostentatiousShowily excessive
vulgar · nouveau · ornate · overwrought · flashy · showy · tacky · garish
capitalist
Private ownership supporter
- exploiterOne who uses unfairly
- oppressorOne who dominates cruelly
- reactionaryAnti-progress political stance
counter-revolutionary · decadent · parasitic · alienation · proletariat · dialectical · materialist · ideology · superstructure · hegemony
conformist
One following accepted norms
- materialisticPrioritizing physical wealth
- conventionalFollowing accepted practices
- conservativeCautious about altering customs
status-seeking · acquisitive · consumerist · aspirational · respectable · proper · traditionalist · family-oriented · risk-averse · complacent
middle-class
Intermediate socioeconomic group
- pettyOf little importance
- capitalistPrivate ownership supporter
- propertiedOwning substantial assets
affluent · comfortable · respectable · conventional · merchant · shopkeeper · tradesman · professional · white-collar · suburban
townsman
Male resident of town
freeman · chartered · municipal · civic · urban · Renaissance · Enlightenment · industrialist · Victorian · Edwardian
kitsch
Tasteless, garish art
- tastelessHaving no flavor
- gaudyTastelessly ornate
- pretentiousFalsely grand or important
ostentatious · vulgar · nouveau · ornate · overwrought · flashy · showy · tacky · garish · opulent
- sculpturestatue, sculpture, sculptor, sculpting, bronze
- Modern ArtistsPicasso, Pablo Picasso, Matisse, Pollock, Warhol
- SculptorsAuguste Rodin, Michelangelo, Donatello, Bernini, Rodin
- ModernistsPicasso, Duchamp, Kandinsky, Mondrian, Stravinsky
Bourgeoisproletarian
Wage laborer, no capital
working-class · peasant · plebeian · lower-class · common
Bourgeoisproletarian
Wage laborer, no capital
proletariat · worker · working class · laborer · serf
Bourgeoisbohemian
Artistic nonconformist type
avant-garde · countercultural · unconventional · nonconformist · artistic
- bourgeois valuesMiddle-class social standards
- bourgeois cultureValues of the propertied mainstream
- bourgeois lifeComfortable, conventional middle-class way
- petit bourgeoisLower middle-class mentality
- petty bourgeoisLower middle-class property owner
- bourgeois societyCommercial class's social system