what/who exactly is the bourgeoisie?
In: 3097
In the old days, there were wealthy nobility and dirt-poor peasants. There was no social mobility. You did whatever your family did. Hard work, risk taking, and ambition got you no where.
Then with the industrial revolution, things started changing. Rich people weren’t just old money; now they were the proprietor/owner class who controlled the means of production. More and more people were able to buy their way into noble circles. The vast majority of folks were still dirt poor, but it seemed possible with luck and circumstance to improve your lot in life and maybe leave your family better than your ancestors left you.
These upwardly mobile city dwellers were called bourgeoisie. They are kind of like a middle class, but the meaning of words changes with time and context. Depending on the frame of reference, bourgeoisie can mean boring people obsessed with wealth and status, yuppies, “basic”. These are people who lack the credibility of truly coming from nothing as they are born privileged, yet lack the legitimacy of nobility because they are not descendants of Charlemagne or whoever.
One of the great achievements of the postwar west was the establishment of a thriving middle class. We have guaranteed rights and a social safety net that prevents most of us from slipping into the destitute masses of most human history. We also have only minimal respect for the wealthy, and it’s blurred with envy and disdain more than any kind of submission. It’s difficult for us to think of bourgeoisie in the way folks did 200 years ago, because we see it in the lens of the modern world.
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