What is Bourgeois?
Origin of the term
Bourgeoisie is a French word. The early Anglicization "burgess" is derived from the old French
burgeis (Cf. Also middle English: burgeis, burges, borges and old Dutch: burgher = the inhabitant
of a city or village). In the French feudal order, "bourgeois" was formally a legal category in
society, defined by conditions such as length of residence and source of income.
The French term in turn seems to have derived from the Italian borghesia (from borgo = village),
which in turn derives from the Greek pyrgos. A borghese was a freeman dwelling in a burgh or
township. The word evolved to mean merchants and traders, and until the 19th century was
mostly synonymous with the middle class (persons in the broad socioeconomic spectrum
between nobility and serfs or proletarians). Then, as the power and wealth of the nobility faded in
the second half of the 19th century, the bourgeoisie emerged as the new ruling class.
Rise of the Bourgeoisie
In the early Middle Ages, as cities were forming, growing and emerging, artisans and tradesmen
began to emerge as an economic force. They formed guilds, associations and companies to
conduct business and promote their own interests. These people were the original bourgeoisie. In
the late Middle Ages, they allied with the kings in uprooting the feudalist system, gradually
becoming the ruling class in industrialised nation-states. In the 17th and 18th century, they
generally supported the American revolution and French revolution in overthrowing the laws and
privileges of the absolutist feudal order, clearing the way for the rapid expansion of commerce.
Concepts such as personal liberties, religious and civil rights, and free trade all derive from
bourgeois philosophies. But the bourgeoisie was never without its critics; it was first accused of
narrow-mindedness, materialism, hypocrisy, opposition to change, and lack of culture, among
other things, by persons such as the playwright Molière, or the novelist Flaubert, who denounced
its banality and mercenary aspirations. The earliest recorded pejorative uses of the term
"bourgeois" are associated with aristocratic contempt for the lifestyle of the bourgeoisie.
Successful embourgeoisement typically meant being able to retire and live on invested income.
With the expansion of commerce, trade and the market economy, the bourgeoisie grew in size,
influence and power. In all industrialized countries, the aristocracy either faded away slowly or
found itself overthrown by a bourgeois revolution. Thus the bourgeoisie rose to the top of the
social hierarchy. This, coupled with the advances of industry, resulted in the birth of an entirely
new lower class, the proletariat or working class. Increasingly, criticisms of the bourgeoisie began
to come from below.
The Marxist view
Arguably one of the most influential of the aforementioned criticisms came from Karl Marx, who
attacked bourgeois political theory and its view of civil society and culture for what he believed to
be its falsely universal concepts and institutions; in Marx's view, these concepts were only the
ideology of the bourgeoisie as a new ruling class, which sought to reshape society after its own
image.
Marxism defines the bourgeoisie as the social class which obtains income from ownership or
trade in capital assets, or from commercial activities such as the buying and selling of
commodities, wares and services. In medieval times, the bourgeois was typically a self-employed
proprietor, small employer, entrepreneur, banker or merchant. In industrial capitalism, on the
other hand, the bourgeoisie becomes the ruling class - which means it also owns the bulk of the
means of production (land, factories, offices, capital, resources). This enables it to employ and
exploit the work of a large mass of wage workers (the working class), who have no other means
of livelihood than to sell their labour to property owners.
Marx distinguished between "functioning capitalists" actually managing enterprises, and "mere
coupon-clippers" earning property rents or interest-income from financial assets or real estate
('rentiers').
Marxism sees the proletariat (wage laborers) and bourgeoisie as directly waging an ongoing class
struggle, in that capitalists exploit workers and workers try to resist exploitation. This exploitation
takes place as follows: the workers, who own no means of production of their own, must seek
employment in order to make a living. They get hired by a capitalist and work for him, producing
some sort of goods or services. These goods or services then become the property of the
capitalist, who sells them and gets a certain amount of money in exchange. Part of this money is
used to pay workers' wages, another part is used to pay production costs, and a third part is kept
by the capitalist in the form of profit (or surplus value). Thus the capitalist can earn money (profit)
from the work of his employees without actually doing any work, or in excess of his own work.
Marxists argue that new wealth is created through work; therefore, if someone gains wealth that
he did not work for, then someone else works and does not receive the full wealth created by his
work. In other words, that "someone else" is exploited. Thus, Marxists argue that capitalists make
a profit by exploiting workers.
In the rhetoric of some Communist parties, "bourgeois" is sometimes used as an insult, and those
who are perceived to collaborate with the bourgeoisie are called its lackeys. Marx himself
primarily used the term "bourgeois", with or without sarcasm, as an objective description of a
social class and of a lifestyle based on ownership of private capital, not as a pejorative. He
admired the industriousness of the bourgeoisie, but criticised it for its moral hypocrisy. This
attitude is shown most clearly in the Communist Manifesto.
In the view of some 20th century Marxist currents, the nomenklatura or higher state bureaucrats
in "communist states" were or are a state bourgeoisie presiding over a system of state capitalism.
To anarchists, all prominent members, functionaries and leaders of any kind of state are part of
this state bourgeoisie. According to these interpretations, the bourgeoisie is composed of any
individuals who have exclusive control over the means of production, regardless whether this
control comes in the form of private ownership or state power.