I came across the word “bourgeois” donkey’s years ago when a cosmetics brand of the same name emerged in Britain the late 90’s. I know what the word implies; I guess I was just never sure what it meant. The word popped up a few days ago when I was reading the “World-Wide Spread of Cinema” by Ruth Vasey. On page 58, Vasey uses the word in the context of: “Bourgeois cultural nationalists feared the homogenizing influence of American mass culture, in which previously clear representations of class and nationality, such as costume and gesture, became increasingly undifferentiated” (Vasey 58). I received some enlightenment from Merriam Webster. First of all, “bourgeois” is both an adjective and a noun. After reading the adjective explanation, I realized Vasey was referring to the noun in her text:
· Main Entry: 1bour·geois
· Pronunciation: \ˈbu(r)zh-ˌwä also ˈbu(r)zh- or ˈbüzh- or bu(r)zh-ˈ\
· Function: adjective
· Etymology: Middle French, from Old French burgeis townsman, from burc, borg town, from Latin burgus
· Date: circa 1565
1 : of, relating to, or characteristic of the townsman or of the social middle class
2 : marked by a concern for material interests and respectability and a tendency toward mediocrity
3 : dominated by commercial and industrial interests : capitalistic
— bour·geois·ifi·ca·tion \ˌbu(r)zh-ˌwä-zə-fə-ˈkā-shən\ noun
— bour·geois·ify \bu(r)zh-ˈwä-zə-ˌfī\ verb
Main Entry: 2bourgeois
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural bourgeois \-ˌwä(z), -ˈwä(z)\
Date: circa 1674
1 a : burgher b : a middle-class person
2 : a person with social behavior and political views held to be influenced by private-property interest : capitalist
3 plural : bourgeoisie
References:
Vasey, Ruth. "The World-Wide Spread of Cinema." The Oxford History of World Cinema. Ed. Geoffrey Nowell- Smith. New York: Oxford UP, USA, 1999. 53-62. Print.
Bourgeois definition: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bourgeois
This word is bandied around quite a bit... so it is good that you began to research it. I would encourage you to examine the term further... Here is a quick little summary (courtesy of Wikipedia and my editing).
ReplyDeleteHistorically, the bourgeoisie comes from the middle or merchant classes of the Middle Ages, whose status or power came from employment, education, and wealth, as distinguished from those whose power came from being born into an aristocratic family of land owners. In modern times, it is the class owning the means for producing wealth.
The term bourgeoisie has been widely used as an approximate equivalent of "upper class" under capitalism. The word also 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). As the power and wealth of the nobility faded in the second half of the 19th century, and that of the merchant and commercial classes came to be dominant, the bourgeoisie emerged, by definition, as the replacement of the deposed nobility and the new ruling class.
In the late Middle Ages, as cities were emerging, artisans and tradesmen began to emerge as both a physical and 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 (the 14th and 15th centuries), they were the highest guildsmen and artisans, as evidenced in their ability to pay the fines for breaking sumptuary laws, and by paying to be called citizens of the city in which they lived or the ability to be called bourgeoisie. In fact the King of France granted nobility to all of the bourgeoisie of Paris in the late fourteenth century.[citation needed] They eventually allied with the kings in centralising power and uprooting feudal barriers against trade.
After the Middle Ages and going into the renaissance, the bourgeoisie were gradually becoming the ruling class in industrialized 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 and the establishment of a capitalist society. With the expansion of commerce, trade, and the market economy, the bourgeoisie grew in size, influence, and power. In many industrialized countries, the aristocracy either faded away slowly or found itself overthrown by a bourgeois revolution.
The bourgeoisie was never without its critics; it was first accused of narrow-mindedness, materialism, hypocrisy, and lack of culture, among other things, by persons such as the playwright Truldière and the novelist Flaubert, who denounced its supposed 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.