Bourgeoisie
Property-owning class
The bourgeoisie is the middle class, particularly in Marxist theory where it refers to the capitalist class who own the means of production and employ wage laborers.
The term often carries connotations of materialism, conventional values, and concern with property and respectability: The bourgeoisie cares more about their stock portfolios than social justice.
In casual use, it can simply mean comfortable middle-class people with conventional tastes, sometimes used dismissively: That restaurant is too bourgeoisie for my budget.
Laborers lacking capital ownership
- capitalismPrivate profit-based economy
- exploitationSelfish use of others
- alienationState of being isolated
- revolutionViolent governmental overthrow
dialectic · materialism · ideology · hegemony · oppression · capital · accumulation · superstructure
Adherence to norms
- philistineArt-dismissing ignoramus
- conventionalFollowing accepted practices
- materialisticPrioritizing physical wealth
- consumerismPreoccupation with acquiring goods
status-seeking · respectability · prudish · conservative · suburban · complacent · mediocrity · pretentious
Intermediate socioeconomic group
- capitalistPrivate ownership supporter
- merchantsThose who conduct commerce
- shopkeepersRetail establishment proprietors
- professionalsSkilled, paid practitioners
industrialists · landowners · entrepreneurs · businessmen · tradespeople · affluent · comfortable · established
Rule by hereditary elite
- 1789Late eighteenth century
- Estates-GeneralFrench representative body, three classes
- merchantsThose who conduct commerce
- guildsCraftsmen's mutual aid societies
urban · chartered · medieval · commune · burgher · townspeople · Renaissance · Dutch
proletariat
Laborers lacking capital ownership
- capitalismPrivate profit-based economy
- exploitationSelfish use of others
- alienationState of being isolated
revolution · dialectic · materialism · ideology · hegemony · oppression · capital · accumulation · superstructure · base
conformity
Adherence to norms
- philistineArt-dismissing ignoramus
- conventionalFollowing accepted practices
- materialisticPrioritizing physical wealth
consumerism · status-seeking · respectability · prudish · conservative · suburban · complacent · mediocrity · pretentious · acquisitive
middle-class
Intermediate socioeconomic group
- capitalistPrivate ownership supporter
- merchantsThose who conduct commerce
- shopkeepersRetail establishment proprietors
professionals · industrialists · landowners · entrepreneurs · businessmen · tradespeople · affluent · comfortable · established · respectable
aristocracy
Rule by hereditary elite
- 1789Late eighteenth century
- Estates-GeneralFrench representative body, three classes
- merchantsThose who conduct commerce
guilds · urban · chartered · medieval · commune · burgher · townspeople · Renaissance · Dutch · Flemish
Bourgeoisieproletariat
Laborers lacking capital ownership
working class · proletarians · peasantry · the masses · lumpenproletariat
Bourgeoisiepoor
Lacking sufficient resources
underclass · lower class · paupers · plebeians · impoverished
Bourgeoisiebohemians
Unconventional artistic types
counterculture · radicals · avant-garde · revolutionaries · nonconformists
- 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