Bourgeoisie

Bourgeoisie (Eng.: /bʊərʒwɑːˈziː/; ) is a word from the French language, used in the fields of political economy, political philosophy, sociology, and history, which denotes the wealthy stratum of the middle class that originated during the latter part of the Middle Ages (AD 500–1500). The utilisation and specific application of the word is from the realm of the social sciences. In sociology and in political science, the noun bourgeoisie and the adjective bourgeois are terms that describe a historical range of socio-economic classes. As such, in the Western world, since the late 18th century, the bourgeoisie describes a social class “characterized by their ownership of capital, and their related culture”; hence, the personal terms bourgeois (masculine) and bourgeoise (feminine) culturally identify the man or woman who is a member of the wealthiest social class of a given society; and their materialistic worldview (Weltanschauung). In Marxist philosophy, the term “bourgeoisie” denotes the social class who owns the means of production, and whose societal concerns are the value of property and the preservation of capital, in order to ensure the perdurance of their economic supremacy in society. In contemporary social theory the term bourgeoisie denotes the ruling class of capitalist societies.