Outline of the April 25th Lecture / E. Eldem

"The Triumphant Bourgeoisie"

Important points to remember:

— The bourgeoisie is certainly triumphant in the nineteenth century, and probably still is to this day.
— The term has enormously changed throughout time, from town dweller (burgher) in the Middle Ages to a socio-economic class in the nineteenth century.
— It is worth noting that it has generally come with a negative connotation: not being noble under the ancient régime; taking part in the economic exploitation of the working class and representing political conservatism in modern times.
— Hardly presented as an ideal: in ancient régime France, the bourgeois are aspiring for noble status, rather than for bourgeois power (Molière’s Le bourgeois gentilhomme (The Bourgeois Gentleman).
— The French Revolution finally empowers them, in the name of the people. It is the beginning of a new era that will be marked by the rise of bourgeois power as an opposition to aristocratic elites.
— The revolutionary role played by the bourgeoisie continues well into the 1830s, with this group leading most of the popular movements against the establishment.
— Gradually, however, as they acquire more power and become the establishment, the bourgeois will start moving on the conservative side and become defenders of the status quo.
— Their power increases even more thanks to the combined effects of the Industrial Revolution in which they play a predominant role and of the rise of the ‘new’ professions, in education, law, medicine, engineering…
— The growing power of the bourgeoisie brings with it the rise of a new culture, based on moral values, taste, beliefs, behavior directly influenced by the bourgeoisie. Ideologically speaking, the bourgeoisie in the nineteenth century is generally identified with political conservatism, the defense of capitalist policies, and economic liberalism.
— Much of bourgeois culture is inspired from an old desire to emulate (imitate) the nobility in terms of consumption and display of wealth, often resulting in a showiness that can develop into outright kitsch.
— At the same time, however, it wishes to adopt moral values often supposed to be absent from the nobility. Family values, intimacy, moral righteousness, religious fervor are typical examples of such concerns.
— Interestingly, bourgeois power in the nineteenth century is such that the bourgeois cultural and moral model will have to be taken up by the other classes, from the very top (Queen Victoria) to the very bottom (aspiring working class).
— Bourgeois culture also freezes gender roles by assigning public/active domains to men and domestic/passive concerns to women, much in the way they will remain to this day.
— The bourgeoisie is also keen on exporting and imposing its values on other classes, most notably the lower classes. The same is true of its treatment of marginal groups (the poor, the mentally ill, the criminal), against whom repressive and punitive measures will be undertaken (hardworking and subdued subalterns, respectful and deserving poor, repenting and reformed criminals…)
— Most of these traits appear in the cultural and educational artifacts of the time. Photography, a new technology, makes it possible to capture the dignity, discipline, austerity, affluence, or love within the family, sometimes even including deceased family members…
— Children’s books reproduce these values by illustrating stories and situations that serve as an example to the young readers who are exposed to this material.