Bourgeoisie: what it is, how it originated and its characteristics

We explain what the bourgeoisie is, how it originated and the values ​​it held. Also, what are its general characteristics and examples.

The bourgeoisie was consolidated as the dominant social class with the capitalist system.

What is the bourgeoisie?

It is known as the bourgeoisie the social class that owns the means of production within a capitalist economic system. This term was originally used to refer to the social group of merchants that emerged in the European feudal society of the Middle Ages and that was at the forefront of the transformations brought about by the First Industrial Revolution and the expansion of capitalism in the Modern Age.

The terms bourgeois and bourgeoisie They come from the Middle Ages and were used to refer to the inhabitants of the “burgs” that were the new settlements that were established around the medieval castles. The bourgeoisie were merchants who accumulated wealth from the practice of a trade, commercial exchange or the lending of money.

In historical terms, The bourgeoisie was the European social class that grew during the 17th century and became the owner of large areas of land (agrarian bourgeoisie) and commercial companies (mercantile bourgeoisie). Then, in the 18th century, with the transformations of the Industrial Revolution, the industrial bourgeoisie appeared, which owned the factories and the capital necessary for the new production system.

In political philosophy, the Marxist school of thought, critical of the capitalist system, defines the bourgeoisie as the social class of property owners, owners of the means of production, who enrich themselves through the exploitation of the labor of the proletariat (working class). From this perspective, the term is often used in a derogatory manner, such as “parasitic bourgeoisie” or “exploiting bourgeoisie,” among other examples.

Sociology and history, for their part, sometimes use the term to specifically define certain groups in the different societies they study. Thus, the concept of “bourgeoisie,” as well as the social class to which it refers, has varied over time.

Today, the term “bourgeoisie” is also used in the social sciences to define a social group that possesses certain characteristics (such as the possession of goods, tools and capital) as opposed to other social groups (such as the aristocracy, the working class or the peasantry).

See also: Causes and consequences of the Industrial Revolution

History of the bourgeoisie

The European bourgeoisie supported the liberal revolutions of the 19th century.

The origin of the bourgeoisie (14th and 15th centuries)

The historical origin of the bourgeoisie is found in the social groups of merchants and artisans of European feudal society who lived in cities. The expansion and empowerment of this social group were key factors in the transition from the medieval feudal system to the emergence of capitalism in the Modern Age.

The bourgeoisie were not subject to any feudal lord in the same way as the peasantry. They did not have privileges like the nobility and the clergy, but they were not tied to servitude and agricultural work on the land..

Their trades were valued by the upper classes, as members of the nobility and clergy could access luxury goods brought by merchants or manufactured goods produced by specialized artisans.

See also: Feudalism

The rise of the bourgeoisie (16th and 17th centuries)

The conditions that differentiated the bourgeoisie from the peasants during the Middle Ages allowed the bourgeoisie in different parts of Europe to grow as a social group and accumulate monetary wealth.

On the other hand, the economic changes of the 16th and 17th centuries made European society more complex and more varied. Differences appeared within the various social groups and the bourgeoisie began to have internal divisions.

In England and other Western European countries, there appeared the agrarian bourgeoisie, made up of enriched peasants who had become large landowners and began to hire day laborers (paid labor) to work the land. It was a social group that did not personally work their land (so they were not peasants) but was not made up of nobles either (which was the social class that traditionally owned the land).

On the other hand, a group called appeared “the upper bourgeoisie”, made up of richer merchants, owners of the companies that organized exchanges between the European kingdoms with America, Asia and Africa. Due to their enormous profits and great accumulation of wealth, they also became money lenders and among their clients were nobles, clerics and kings from different parts of Europe.

In the cities, another part of theThe urban bourgeoisie was made up of the masters who controlled the craft guilds. The richest were those who controlled the production and prices of luxury goods (such as fine fabrics, furniture, and jewelry) for the consumption of the nobles.

Finally, another bourgeois group appeared that was linked to local and regional commerce and markets. These were entrepreneurs who developed rural home-based industry: a form of production organization that used peasant labor (located in the fields) to produce goods that were then sold in urban markets.

The bourgeoisie in the Industrial Revolution

In the second half of the 18th century, a series of economic changes occurred in Europe that are known as the First Industrial Revolution. Around 1760, in England, a transformation in the way of producing goods that consolidated the power of the bourgeoisie compared to the rest of society. Small and large merchants, bankers and artisans were the great beneficiaries.

In urban areas, factories began to be created that used steam engines to mechanize certain tasks in the production process. The first factory entrepreneurs were bourgeois who had diverse origins, such as union teachers, rural home-based industry entrepreneurs or merchants who invested in production.

With the creation of factories, the poorest inhabitants of rural areas began to migrate to the cities to take up salaried jobs. This new social class, made up of people who did not have land or production tools, constituted the proletariat.

In this way, capitalist society was formed, which was divided into two large social groups: the capitalist bourgeoisie, owner of the means of production (factories, machinery, raw materials and capital to invest) and the proletariat, made up of workers or laborers who only had their ability to work in exchange for a salary.

The bourgeois revolutions

The bourgeois class consolidated its political power with the liberal revolutions of the 19th century.

The profound economic and social changes of the 17th and 18th centuries led to the growth of the bourgeoisie as a social class. Although it was the wealthiest class and had the greatest economic power, this was not reflected in the political structure of the different European societies, which was dominated by the aristocracy.

The French Revolution of 1789 was the first expression of this conflict. Then, during the 19th century, in Europe there were a series of revolutions that sought to limit the power of the landed nobility and promote political systems in accordance with the interests of the bourgeoisie.

These revolutionary waves are known as “bourgeois revolutions” or “liberal revolutions” and were characterized by having put an end to absolutist governments and having established liberal forms of government.

More in: Bourgeois revolutions

Ideology of the bourgeoisie

Over time, the bourgeoisie developed its own ideology based on the values ​​and principles that best represented its interests. The main current of bourgeois thought was political liberalism (which today is called “classical liberalism”, to differentiate it from other later ideas).

Classical liberalism held that society was composed of a group of rational and free individuals, whose freedoms should be guaranteed within a legal framework. The individual was the basis of society and their rights and needs were more important than those of the State and religion.

For liberal political philosophers, the State had the duty to guarantee the security of individuals without limiting personal freedoms. Liberalism promoted freedom of expression, association and commerce and was based on the right of private property..

In his political expression, he maintained that the rights of the people should be guaranteed through the creation of a Constitution and that the government should be constituted by representatives elected by the citizens.

The bourgeois revolutions of the 19th century followed liberal thought and sought to limit the absolute power of the king and create parliamentary governments. Other characteristics of liberal thought were the defense of census suffrage (that is, the vote of people with property), the separation of Church and State, and the division of powers.

Among the leading thinkers of classical liberalism are John Locke, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Alexis de Tocqueville.

Differences between bourgeoisie and aristocracy

The aristocracy was the class that held power in the feudal order. The members of this caste shared a noble origin and were the great owners of land and property. The origin of its nobility was linked to the stories of great military heroes who had defended the European kingdoms.

The bourgeoisie, on the other hand, did not have titles of nobility of origin or large properties, but they did have the ability to generate and manage money. This led to the fact that during the 18th and 19th centuries, more and more families of the nobility became related to wealthy families of the bourgeoisie.

Differences between bourgeoisie and proletariat

The bourgeoisie were the owners of the factories where the proletariat worked.

Unlike the bourgeoisie, the proletariat and the peasantry were made up of the lower classes of society, who had nothing to offer other than their labor, their strength and ability to work.

In the Middle Ages, peasants worked the lands of a feudal lord, to whom they were subject by the…