BharatNotes Bourgeoisie
noun (usually with "the"; functions as a collective noun)Usage in a UPSC answer
Critics of liberalisation argued that the post-1991 reforms disproportionately enriched an urban bourgeoisie, even as the rural poor remained tethered to an informal economy untouched by the new prosperity.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
bourgeoisie (n), bourgeois (n/adj), petite bourgeoisie (n compound), embourgeoisement (n)
Root
French bourgeoisie, from bourgeois = townspeople; Old French bourg = market town; Frankish burg = fortified town
Etymology
From French bourgeoisie, from bourgeois ("townspeople"), derived from Old French borgeis ("town dweller"), from bourg ("market town"), ultimately from Old Frankish burg ("fortified town").
Memory Hook
Hear "BURG" hiding inside it: a bourgeoisie is the class of the BURG (town) -- the propertied town-dwellers, not the peasants in the fields.
How This Word Works in UPSC Writing
The class that owns the means of production, and the word carries a specific analytical apparatus which is wasted if it is used loosely. In Marx's scheme capitalist society divides between the bourgeoisie, who own productive property, and the proletariat, who own only their labour power and must sell it to live, and the relation between them is one of extraction of surplus value rather than merely of inequality of income. Historically the bourgeoisie is the class that displaced the landed aristocracy, whose wealth lay in land and whose claims rested on birth, replacing it with wealth drawn from commerce and manufacture and claims resting on property and merit. That explains the content of bourgeois politics, which demanded legal equality, secure property rights, representative government and free trade, and it is why the French Revolution and the British Reform Acts are read as bourgeois achievements rather than democratic ones.
Don’t Confuse It With
The bourgeoisie owns the means of production while the proletariat owns only its labour, which is the axis of the whole Marxist analysis. The petite bourgeoisie comprises small shopkeepers and artisans who own property but work it themselves, so they sit awkwardly between the two classes. The aristocracy drew wealth from land and status from birth, and is the class the bourgeoisie displaced. In ordinary English bourgeois has drifted to mean conventional or materialistic, a later sense with no analytical content.
Hindi Meaning
पूंजीपति वर्ग (pūnjīpati varg) or बुर्जुआ; सर्वहारा (sarvahārā) for the proletariat.
Common Questions
- Who are the bourgeoisie in Marxist analysis?
- The class owning the means of production, as against the proletariat, who own only their labour power and must sell it to live.
- How did the bourgeoisie differ from the aristocracy?
- Aristocratic wealth came from land and status from birth, while bourgeois wealth came from commerce and manufacture and its claims rested on property and merit.
Tip: press Alt+S to hear pronunciation
