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Bourgeoisie | Define Bourgeoisie at Dictionary.comNever forget that the Bourgeoisie is the middle class, not the "rich," but the merchants and craftsman of the middle.
The word 'Bourgeoisie' comes from 18th century Europe and over there the upper class was the nobility, the lower classes were those who had to labor for a living, which included everyone from ditch diggers to doctors and lawyers.
The 'Bourgeoisie' were the wealthy middle class that were wealthy enough to not work but not of the proper blood lines to have a title. Later many of them became titled and were called the 'new nobility' and were then upper class.
The Bourgeoisie that Marx and other railed against were the greedy capitalists of the 19th century, whom we called 'Robber Barons', etc.
www.dictionary.com/browse/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.