Petite Bourgeoise

''Petite bourgeoisie'' (, ; also anglicised as petty bourgeoisie) is a term that refers to a social class composed of small business owners, shopkeepers, small-scale merchants, semi-autonomous peasants, and artisans. They are named as such because their politico-economic ideological stance in times of stability is reflective of the proper ''haute bourgeoisie'' (high bourgeoisie or upper class). In ordinary times, the ''petite bourgeoisie'' seek to identify themselves with the ''haute bourgeoisie'', whose bourgeois morality, conduct and lifestyle they aspire and strive to imitate.

The term, which goes as far back as the Revolutionary period in France, if not earlier, is politico-economic and addresses historical materialism. It originally denoted a sub-stratum of the middle classes in the 18th and early-19th centuries of western Europe. In the mid-19th century, the German economist Karl Marx and other Marxist theorists used the term ''petite bourgeoisie'' to academically identify the socio-economic stratum of the bourgeoisie that consists of small shopkeepers and self-employed artisans.

Definition

The ''petite bourgeoisie'' is economically distinct from the proletariat and the social-class strata who rely entirely on the sale of their labour-power for survival. It is also distinct from the capitalist class '' haute bourgeoisie'' ('high' bourgeoisie), defined by owning the means of production and thus deriving most of their wealth from buying the labour-power of the proletariat and to work the means of production. Although members of the ''petite bourgeoisie'' can buy the labour of others, they typically work alongside their employees, unlike the ''haute bourgeoisie''. Examples can include shopkeepers, artisans and other smaller-scale entrepreneurs.

The ''petite bourgeoisie'' is little-defined in Marx's own work, with only the words 'smaller capitalists' used in ''The Communist Manifesto''.

Role in fascism

Historically, Karl Marx predicted that the petite bourgeoisie was to lose in the course of economic development.

The etty bourgeoisesink gradually into the proletariat, partly because their diminutive capital does not suffice for the scale on which Modern Industry is carried on, and is swamped in the competition with the large capitalists, partly because their specialized skill is rendered worthless by new methods of production.

The livelihood of the petit bourgeoise is thus threatened. Competition with the big bourgeoise and simultaneous pressures from the proletariat leaves them in a precarious position. Marx acknowledges the petit bourgeoise, still, want to preserve the existing relations of property and cannot be revolutionary like the proletariat.

Marxist theorists say that the instability of the petit bourgeoise, when augmented in times of crisis, leads to its attraction to forms of government such as fascism. Trotsky concluded:

The fascists find their human material mainly in the petty bourgeoisie. The latter has been entirely ruined by big capital. There is no way out for it in the present social order, but it knows of no other. Its dissatisfaction, indignation, and despair are diverted by the fascists away from big capital and against the workers. It may be said that fascism is the act of placing the petty bourgeoisie at the disposal of its most bitter enemies. In this way, big capital ruins the middle classes and then, with the help of hired fascist demagogues, incites the despairing petty bourgeoisie against the worker.

Daniel Guerin concluded:

The middle classes, caught between menacing big business and an aggressive working class, have become enraged and turned toward fascism.

This was disputed by historian Richard Pipes who wrote, in the case of the Nazi Party, that while at first limited to this group, by the end of the 1920s workers joined the party en masse and were the largest occupational group in the party by 1934.

Wilhelm Reich also highlighted the principal support of the rise of fascism in Germany given by the petite bourgeoisie and middle class in ''The Mass Psychology of Fascism''. He claimed that the middle classes were a hotbed for political reaction due to their reliance on the patriarchal family (according to Reich, small businesses are often self-exploiting enterprises of families headed by the father, whose morality binds the family together in their somewhat precarious economic position) and the sexual repression that underlies it.

Literary treatment of the petite bourgeoisie

Søren Kierkegaard wrote that "the petty bourgeois is spiritless ... Devoid of imagination, as the petty bourgeois always is, he lives within a certain orbit of trivial experiences as to how things come about, what is possible, what usually happens, no matter whether he is a tapster or a prime minister. This is the way the petty bourgeois has lost himself and God". According to him, the petite bourgeoisie exemplifies a spiritual emptiness that is rooted in an overemphasis on the worldly, rather than the inwardness of the self. However, Kierkegaard's indictment relies less on a class analysis of the petite bourgeoisie than on the perception of a worldview which was common in his middle-class milieu.

In fact, though there have been many depictions of the petite bourgeoisie in literature as well as in cartoons, based on an image of their overly conventional practicality, the realities of the petite bourgeoisie throughout the 19th century were more complex. All the same, writers have been concerned with petite bourgeois morality and behavior and have portrayed them as undesirable characters. Henrik Ibsen's ''An Enemy of the People'' was a play written in direct response to the reception of another one of his plays for making "indecent" references to syphilis and in general his work was considered scandalous in its disregard for the morality of the period. Later, Bertolt Brecht's concern with Nazism and his Marxist politics got him interested in exploring the petite bourgeois mind and this interest led him to represent the petite bourgeoisie repeatedly throughout his work (one was even titled '' The Seven Deadly Sins of the Petite Bourgeoisie'').

In his book '' Two Cheers for Anarchism: Six Easy Pieces on Autonomy, Dignity, and Meaningful Work and Play'', James C. Scott dedicates an entire chapter to describing some features of the petite bourgeoisie. First, he points out the contempt of this class by Marxists due to the ambiguity of their political position. He further points out that this position of contempt or distaste encompasses both the socialist bloc and large capitalist democracies, due to the difficulty of monitoring, taxing and policing of this class. This difficulty results from the complexity, variety and mobility of activities taken on by this class. He points out the petite bourgeoisie has existed for most of civilized history. He also states that even those who are not part of the class have to some degree desired to become small property owners, due to the conferred autonomy and social standing. He continues that the desire to keep and restore lost land has been the leitmotif of most radically egalitarian mass movements. He argues that the petite bourgeoisie have an indispensable economic role in terms of invention and innovation, citing as an example software startups that develop ideas which are then usually bought by larger firms. He also points out that small shopkeepers provide several "unpaid" social services such as:

See also

* Professional–managerial class
* Kulak
* Petty nobility
* Producerism
* Labor aristocracy
* Xiaozi

References

Further reading

* Andrews, G. J. and Phillips D R (2005) "Petit Bourgeois healthcare? The big small-business of private complementary medical practice Complementary Therapies" in ''Clinical Practice'' 11, 87-104.
* F. Bechhofer and B. Elliott, "Persistence and change the petit bourgeoisie in the industrial society", ''Eur J Soc'' xv 11 (1976), pp. 74–79.
* B. Elliott and G. McCrone, "What else does someone with capital do?", ''New Society'' 31 (1979), pp. 512–513.
* F. Bechhofer and B. Elliott, ''The petite Bourgeoisie comparative studies of an uneasy stratum'', Macmillan, London (1981).
* R. Scase and R. Goffee, ''The real world of the small business owner'', Croom Helm, London (1981).
* D.R. Phillips and J. Vincent, "Petit Bourgeois Care private residential care for the elderly", ''Policy Politics'' 14 (1986) (2), pp. 189–208.
* Geoffrey Crossick and Heinz-Gerhard Haupt
''The Petite Bourgeoisie in Europe 1780-1914''
Routledge. 1998.
* "Petite bourgeoisie" at th

External links

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19th-century neologisms
French words and phrases
Social groups
Marxist terminology
Middle class
Bourgeoisie