petit bourgeois

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Definition

Noun: 1. A member of the lower middle class: A person belonging to a social class traditionally consisting of small business owners (like shopkeepers), clerical workers, and other white-collar employees. This term often carries connotations of social and political conservatism, conventional attitudes, and a preoccupation with respectability and material security. 2. (As a collective, often used with 'the') The lower middle class as a social group: Refers to the class itself, characterized by its economic position between the working class and the upper middle class.

Usage Examples
  • Noun (referring to a person):
    • The novel's protagonist is a petit bourgeois struggling to maintain his station in a rapidly changing society.
    • Critics accused the politician of having a petit bourgeois mentality, focused only on property values and taxes.
  • Noun (referring to the class):
    • The policies were designed to appeal to the anxieties of the petit bourgeois.
Advanced Usage
  • The term is frequently used in sociological and political discourse, often with a critical or dismissive tone, to describe attitudes perceived as narrow-minded, overly cautious, or lacking in broader social vision.
  • It can function as an adjective (though this is a derived usage from the noun), meaning characteristic of this class:
Variants and Related Words
  • Petite bourgeoisie (n): The standard term for the social class as a whole.
  • Bourgeois (n/adj): Referring to the broader middle class, especially those perceived as conventional and materialistic. specifies a subset of this larger group.
  • Middlebrow (adj/n): While not a direct synonym, it shares the connotation of conventional, non-intellectual taste, often associated with the .
Synonyms
  • Member of the lower middle class
  • Shopkeeper (as a specific type)
  • White-collar worker (in a specific historical/social context)
Notes on Meaning
  • The term originates from Marxist and socialist theory, where it distinguishes the (who own some small-scale means of production, like a shop) from the proletariat (working class) and the haute bourgeoisie (capitalist class).
  • Its modern use often emphasizes social attitudes (conservatism, preoccupation with status) more than strict economic definition.
Noun
  1. lower middle class (shopkeepers and clerical staff etc.)
  2. a member of the lower middle class

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