Bourgeoisie

In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie (adjective: bourgeois) describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century to now, the bourgeoisie is a social class characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture. A member of the bourgeoisie is a bourgeois or capitalist (plural: bourgeoises; capitalists). They are a part of the middle or merchant classes, and derived social and economic power from employment, education, and wealth, as distinguished from social classes whose power came from being born into an aristocratic family of titled land owners granted feudal privileges by the monarch. The bourgeoisie emerged from late feudal and early modern towns, through the control of long distance trade and petty manufacture. Bourgeois and bourgeoisie originate in the French language, meaning "city-dweller" (from bourg, cf. German Burg).