petty bourgeoisie
Lower middle class
The petty bourgeoisie is a Marxist term for the class of small-scale property owners—shopkeepers, artisans, small farmers—who own their means of production but don't employ significant labor.
They occupy an anxious middle position between capitalists and workers, often characterized as politically conservative and protective of modest gains: The petty bourgeoisie feared both the monopolists above and the masses below.
- shopkeeperSmall store manager
- corner shopSmall local retail outlet
- class struggleConflict between economic groups
- middle classIntermediate socioeconomic group
- white collarOffice worker category
artisan · capitalism · false consciousness · class conflict · Marx and Engels · merchants · livelihood · class consciousness · social climbing · self-employed · lower middle class · status quo · work ethic · urban life · social commentary · social hierarchy · social mobility · power dynamics
petty bourgeoisieproletariat
Laborers lacking capital ownership
working class · lumpenproletariat · peasantry · factory workers · industrial workers
petty bourgeoisiemagnates
Wealthy, powerful industrialists
oligarchs · robber barons · ruling class · captains of industry · plutocracy
petty bourgeoisievanguard
Foremost position or group
petty, bourgeoisie, pettier, pettiest, pettily, pettiness, bourgeois, petit, petite