bourgeoisie

[ boor-zhwah-zee; French boor-zhwa-zee ]
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noun
  1. Usually the bourgeoisie . in Marxist theory, the powerful capitalist class that owns and is concerned with property, as contrasted with the wage-earning class, which must concern itself with survival: the interests of the bourgeoisie are opposed to revolution and invested in the status quo: According to Marx, the rise of the bourgeoisie split the whole of society into two enemy camps—the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.Many postcolonial societies in the 21st century are hindered by greedy and repressive bourgeoisies.

  2. Usually the bourgeoisie . the middle class, made up mainly of entrepreneurs, managers, professionals, and skilled office workers, and often characterized as having conventional tastes and values and prizing respectability: The pleasure park was for the entertainment of the little town's bourgeoisie on summer evenings, with a dance hall, a gazebo, and other attractions.These mass-produced postcards of exotic places were intended for consumption by a white, urban bourgeoisie back home.

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Origin of bourgeoisie

1
First recorded in 1700–10; from French; equivalent to bourgeois1 + -y3

Words Nearby bourgeoisie

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use bourgeoisie in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for bourgeoisie

bourgeoisie

/ (ˌbʊəʒwɑːˈziː) /


nounthe bourgeoisie
  1. the middle classes

  2. (in Marxist thought) the ruling class of the two basic classes of capitalist society, consisting of capitalists, manufacturers, bankers, and other employers. The bourgeoisie owns the most important of the means of production, through which it exploits the working class

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for bourgeoisie

bourgeoisie

[ (boor-zhwah-zee) ]


In general, the middle class. Applied to the Middle Ages, it refers to townspeople, who were neither nobles nor peasants. In Marxism it refers to those who control the means of production and do not live directly by the sale of their labor. Karl Marx (see also Marx) distinguished between the “haute” (high) bourgeoisie (industrialists and financiers) and the “petite” (small or “petty”) bourgeoisie (shopkeepers, self-employed artisans, lawyers). Marxism postulates a fundamental conflict between the interests of the bourgeoisie and those of the propertyless workers, the proletariat (see also proletariat).

Notes for bourgeoisie

“Bourgeois” may also refer to mediocre taste or to the flashy display of wealth by the nouveau riche.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.