Transcript Middle Classes
Middle Classes
“The Bourgeoisie Century”
Development of the Middle Class
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Bourgeoisie
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as strong a sense of self-identity as did anyone
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Post-Napoleonic era
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Aristocracy
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Hereditary – ascribed status
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Buy-in
Middle Class…es
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Middle Classes
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Not homogeneous
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Shared cultural values and symbols
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Reactionary when challenged
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Journal des De’bat, 1847: “The Bourgeoisie is not a class, it is a position. One acquires that position and loses it. Work, thrift, and ability confer it, vice, dissipation, and idleness mean it can be lost.”
Middle Classes • •
Aristocrats
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idleness Effects of the French Revolution
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Removal of legal blocks to advancement
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Extrinsic motivation for advancement (Napoleon)
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“Endless work to get ahead” ethos
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“In muck there’s brass”
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Increasingly a lifestyle to be emulated and maintained.
• Middle Classes
Frederick Engels
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"One day I walked with one of these middle class gentlemen into Manchester. I spoke to him about the disgraceful, unhealthy slums and drew his attention to the disgusting condition of that part of town in which the factory workers lived. I declared that I'd never seen so badly built a town in my life. He listened patiently and at the end of the corner of a street at which we parted, he remarked, ‘And yet, there is a good deal of money to be made here. Good morning, sir. And he walked away."
Middle Classes
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1830’s:
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Workers "should be constantly harassed by need, for then he will not set his children a bad example and his poverty will be the guarantee of good behavior."
Middle Classes •
Formation of voluntary associations
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Helping the poor
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Moralizing on habits of the poor
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SPCA-
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“One must love animals, but not fraternize with animals.”
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Bull fights Church-going
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Much greater % of the “Middle Classes”
Middle Classes •
Census- Who is “Middle Class?”
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Wills
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Britain- approaching 25%
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Paris 17 – 19%
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Northern Italy, Hanseatic cities, Madrid, Barcelona,
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Russia- Moscow & St Petersburg; ~ 2%
Middle Classes • Who is “Middle Class?” – “Great Bourgeoisie” • Financiers (Bankers) • Wholesale Merchants, Shipping magnates –
Political power
– – – – Industrialists Merchants Lawyers Doctors – Petit Bourgeoisie • (Petty Bourgeoisie) *******************ECONOMY***********************
Middle Classes •
What do they want?
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Social mobility
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Vote- political power Education for their children
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Credit
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Privacy
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The right to bear arms
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“The Children’s Hour”
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Birth control
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How is this measured?
Middle Classes •
IN CONCLUSION-
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The Middle classes vary extremely
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Common material culture
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Competitive
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They want the vote
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They can become unified quickly