History of Europe Bourgeoisie, Industrial Revolution, Enlightenment

It was possible for a town that had a special importance in the sphere of church or law (Angers, Salzburg, or Trier, for example) to enjoy a quiet prosperity, but there was a special kind of deadness about towns that had no other raison d’être than to be host to numerous clergy. The professions, notably the church and law, were tough, having large interests in the town and in the property in and around it. In more fortunate cities, where there was continuing economic stability or strong corporate identity—as in the siege victims La Rochelle (1628) or Magdeburg (1631)—recovery even from the worst of war experiences could be rapid. Enterprise, by contrast, brought remarkable growth in Britain, where Manchester and Birmingham both moved up from modest beginnings to the 100,000-population mark during the 18th century. Growth was likely to be slow where, as in Lyon, Rouen, and Dresden, production continued to be along traditional lines or, in ports such as Danzig, Königsberg, or Hamburg, where trading patterns remained essentially the same.

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• That is, economic power gives access to political power and cultural influence.
• There is, however, in spite of the violent exertions ofthe humane bourgeoisie, no immediate prospect of its succeeding in bringingabout such a disposition among the workers.
• From Newcastle to Dover, there is but one voice among the workers –the voice of hatred against the new law.
• The Poor Law Commissioners and the whole Englishbourgeoisie deceive themselves if they believe the administration of the lawpossible without these results.

But these wise Malthusians were so thoroughly convinced of the infallibilityof their theory that they did not for one moment hesitate to cast the poor intothe Procrustean bed of their economic notions and treat them with the mostrevolting cruelty. Underpresent social conditions it is perfectly clear that the poor man is compelledto be an egotist, and when he can choose, living equally well in either case,he prefers doing nothing to working. He demanded hisweekly relief as his right, not as a favour, and this became, at last, too muchfor the bourgeoisie. Since, however, the rich hold all the power, the proletarians must submit,if they will not good-temperedly perceive it for themselves, to have the lawactually declare them superfluous.. He quotes the wordsof a poet, that the poor man comes to the feast of Nature and finds no coverlaid for him, and adds that “she bids him begone”, for he did notbefore his birth ask of society whether or not he is welcome.

Marxist theory

This scapegoating distracts from the harms caused by the ruling class and the inherent inequalities of capitalism. This ruling class can influence laws to protect their private property and profits while criminalising the activities of the powerless. They effectively control the “superstructure” of society (political and ideological institutions) because it rests upon the economic “base” that they own. The fundamental difference between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat is ownership versus non-ownership of the means of production.

Differences Between the Bourgeoisie and Proletariat

As a minority group, their wealth and dominance derive from exploiting the majority’s labour. They profit by 1win india purchasing and controlling the labour of others.

They are the subjects of the laws and social controls created by the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie and the proletariat are two opposing social classes described by Karl Marx. He has sounded the social disorder moredeeply than any other English bourgeois, and demands the organisation oflabour.

Hence, since the 19th century, the term bourgeoisie usually is politically and sociologically synonymous with the ruling upper class of a capitalist society. In Marxism, the term bourgeoisie refers to a social order dominated by the ruling or capitalist class, those who own property and, thus, the means of production. Beyond the intellectual realms of political economy, history, and political science that discuss, describe, and analyze the bourgeoisie as a social class, the colloquial usage of the sociological terms bourgeois and bourgeoise describe the social stereotypes of the old money and of the nouveau riche, who is a politically timid conformist satisfied with a wealthy, consumerist style of life characterized by conspicuous consumption and the continual striving for prestige. Nevertheless, despite the slogan The Fascist Man Disdains the “Comfortable” Life, which epitomized the anti-bourgeois principle, in its final years of power, for mutual benefit and profit, the Mussolini fascist régime transcended ideology to merge the political and financial interests of Prime Minister Benito Mussolini with the political and financial interests of the bourgeoisie, the Catholic social circles who constituted the ruling class of Italy. Culturally and philosophically, Mussolini isolated the bourgeoisie from Italian society by portraying them as social parasites upon the fascist Italian state and “The People”; as a social class who drained the human potential of Italian society, in general, and of the working class, in particular; as exploiters who victimized the Italian nation with an approach to life characterized by hedonism and materialism.

The proletariat (the working class), by contrast, comprises those who do not own the means of production. The proletariat are the working class, who sell their labor to survive but do not own the means of production. The plight of the poor was emphasized by the affluence of increasing numbers of fellow citizens. In late 18th-century Berlin, which was solidly based on bureaucracy, garrison, and numerous crafts, a third of the population still lacked regular work. Journeymen’s associations sought to improve their situation, sometimes through strikes. For this reason, such cities as Leiden, Rouen, Cologne, and Nürnberg actually lost population in the 18th century.

The man, George Robson, had a wound upon theshoulder, the treatment of which was wholly neglected; he was set to work atthe pump, using the sound arm; was given only the usual workhouse fare, whichhe was utterly unable to digest by reason of the unhealed wound and his generaldebility; he naturally grew weaker, and the more he complained, the morebrutally he was treated. The details of the treatment of the poorin this institution are revolting. In November, 1843, a man died at Leicester, who had been dismissed two daysbefore from the workhouse at Coventry.

But the intent of the law is too loudly outspoken for this requirement tobe in any wise fulfilled. To prevent the“superfluous” from multiplying, and “demoralised”parents from influencing their children, families are broken up; the husband isplaced in one wing, the wife in another, the children in a third, and they arepermitted to see one another only at stated times after long intervals, andthen only when they have, in the opinion of the officials, behaved well. For the workhouse is a jail too;he who does not finish his task gets nothing to eat; he who wishes to go outmust ask permission, which is granted or not, according to his behaviour or theinspectors whim; tobacco is forbidden, also the receipt of gifts from relativesor friends outside the house; the paupers wear a workhouse uniform, and arehanded over, helpless and without redress, to the caprice of the inspectors. The food isworse than that of the most ill-paid working-man while employed, and the workharder, or they might prefer the workhouse to their wretched existence outside.Meat, especially fresh meat, is rarely furnished, chiefly potatoes, the worstpossible bread and oatmeal porridge, little or no beer. To makesure that relief be applied for only in the most extreme cases and after everyother effort had failed, the workhouse has been made the most repulsiveresidence which the refined ingenuity of a Malthusian can invent. All relief in moneyand provisions was abolished; the only relief allowed was admission to theworkhouses immediately built.