The middle-class is a social category initially associated with the Ville then with the Trading S and Artisan S.

This term is derived from “middle-class man” (the inhabitant of the borough) and attested as of 1538 with the direction of “whole of the inhabitants of the borough”. It had appeared before in 1240 in the form “bourgesy”, corresponding to the Latin burgensia , with the direction Juridique of quality of inhabitant of the Cité S, direction which remained alive in Suisse (Robert, historical Dictionnaire of the French language ). As for the Italian borghesia , just as borghese , it was borrowed from the French “middle-class”. (Zangarelli, Italian Dictionary language , Zanichelli ED.).

A middle-class class emerged on the one hand in Italy and on the other hand in the Hanse at the 14th century, after the Grande plague, when the inhabitants of the Village S became definitely richer than those of the Campagne. That gave them relatively more power and of influence in the company, bringing them closer to the leading classes and the Clergé and moving away them from the farming community. The prototype of the medieval middle-class was the owner of Moulin which became rather important in the local economy to be opposed to the Seigneur.

Two episodes where the middle-class men held a leading role in Flanders:

• the battles of Courtrai in 1302,
• Calais in 1347.

During following centuries, the term was used rather to indicate the first Banquier S and people whose activities developed in the Commerce and the Finance.

Origins of the middle-class

It is at the 12th century that the middle-class appears. In the beginning the term of middle-class man designates the inhabitant of the borough. However the cities will start little by little to obtain a certain autonomy, in particular legal, which is characterized by the attribution of Privilège S for the middle-class men like, for example, the tax Exonération S.

Conditions to be middle-class

To be received middle-class, the conditions were variable from one city to another, but there is however a body of common rules.

The middle-class man is before a whole free man, i.e. it is not a Serf. He was to be able to prove it. A serf could reach the middle-class on the condition of becoming him also a free man. However if a middle-class man became serf it lost the pleasure of its quality of middle-class man. Then the middle-class man was not to have debts, it was to be of good morality and legitimate birth.

A threshold of richness could be required, as well as the possession of a dwelling, even of grounds, this depending partly on the area where one became middle-class. Thus, in Alsace it was necessary to reach the middle-class to have a house giving on the street.

The fundamental condition was the residence within the city. The applicant with the middle-class was to reside a certain time at it to be able to reach the middle-class. Moreover, one could require of the middle-class man that it be of Catholic religion. It is a condition which can seem surprising today, but the Catholic church dominated all the company then. Moreover, a right of middle-class could be required, which was especially true in the peripheral provinces of the kingdom of France.

Evolution of the middle-class under the Old Mode

The evolution of the middle-class under the Old Mode depends on the area, but also on the structuring of the State and the increase in the capacities of kings de France.

A classification of the middle-class

• lower middle class : middle-class of one or two generations being formed by a short social rise. It generally begin with the trade or the craft industry, then with the wire of the second then third generation, it can rise socially on a level of middle class (passing sometimes to professions developing as doctor, lawyer or head of undertaking). This class is slightly above the middle-class of the company and is characterized only by its mentality.

• middle class : middle-class of the third generation and beyond, it has sometimes some alliances with other families resulting from the same medium and sometimes even noble. This category of middle-class is called to remain average with the wire of the generations, or will be able, by the means of good alliances, of prestigious professions and especially of time, to pass in the higher category of the upper middle class.

• upper middle class : middle-class of the sixth or seventh generation, or resulting from the 19th century, which is often characterized by noble marriages and interesting alliances (and interested). This section of the middle-class has an historical heritage and cultural important created and amplified with the wire of the decades. The name of these families is generally known in the city where they reside and, very often, several ancestors made the regional history. The loads exerted by these families are considered and respected. It is a “small upper middle classes”.

• upper middle classes : this middle-class is acquired only by time. It is made up already middle-class families with the Révolution, only honourable professions and periodically knew had famous alliances in its branches. The cultural heritage, history and financier remain important. These families have a kind of state of Noblesse which prohibits certain marriages or certain professions to them. These families could completely have become noble but, of time, king or chance, they remained only middle-class.

• Of others thinks not of classifications quasi-peerage-books, but rather of professional categories:

There would be thus an active middle-class, another passive: " The Bourgeoisie passivates is that which emphasizes the capital with placements in actions in the real estate. It is made up shareholders and liberal professions. the Bourgeoisie activates includes/understands those which undertake. They are contractors, capitalists or owners who emphasize by creating industrial companies or bancaires."

Middle-class and the French revolution

It was often said that the middle-class was at the origin of the French revolution. It is advisable to specify that it is only partially true. In fact, the middle-class men wanted a revolution political so that their class finds his place in the company of order; from his birth a middle-class man belonged to the Tiers state, but from its way of life and its mentality, it approached the Noblesse (a great number of families belonging to the noblesse de robe resulted from the middle-class besides, because they had the means of buying a load anoblissante).

Middle-class during the Second Empire

During the Second Empire, in the Century of the Industrial revolution, the middle-class social class seizes power with the detriment of the nobility, declining since the Restoration (1830). There is of it an example in the novel of Honore de Balzac entitled the Shagreen , where its hero, although marquis, is ruined. By the middle-class men such as bankers or notaries grow rich and eclipse the nobility. Titles and honors do not count any more.

Middle-class according to the Marxist theory

In the Marxist theory of the Class struggle, the middle-class is defined as the class of the company which has the average production. The Marxism sees the Prolétariat and the middle-class like basically opposite, since (for example) the workmen wait until their wages is highest possible, whereas the owners hope to increase their incomes by employing labor at the cost low possible.

" One understands by middle-class the class of the capitalist modern, owners of the means of social production and which employ paid work. One understands by proletariat the class of the modern paid workmen who, private their own means of production, are obliged to remain, to sell their labor force. (Note of Engels for the English edition in 1888). " Proclamation of the Communist party , Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels.

One can distinguish several subclasses:

• the upper middle classes , consisted the richest class (industrialists, large commercial, etc), enjoying a sumptuous way of life and attending the largest artists, like described it well, for example, Marcel Proust, and which one named during first half of the 20th century " 200 families ". Michel Pinçon and Monique Pinçon-Charlot studies the lifestyle of this upper middle class, its manner of protecting the access to their world from the " new riches".
• the middle class , having of inheritance or solid incomes, but without will have first
• the lower middle class (craftsmen, small shopkeeper, tradesmen, small farmers owners, etc) which is distinguished from the proletariat especially by mentality.

Middle-class at the 20th century

• One can say that the middle-class, and in particular the upper middle class, are characterized by the fact that it cumulates what one calls the Authorized capital , the economic Capital, the cultural Capital and the capital symbolic system. When this upper middle class reaches the exercise of the political Pouvoir, the mode is described as Ploutocratie.

• the Middle-class man-Bohemian

• the Nappy

• the Left caviar

Meaning in Switzerland

In Swiss, the middle-class is a personal right, survivor of the medieval right. The middle-class , or common middle-class woman , is also an local government agency, which exists still in certain cantons, to which take part the inhabitants originating in the commune or former middle-class men, in opposition to the new inhabitants. The middle-class, which is an institution going up with the law on the communes of 1866, lost importance, but still manages hospitals and, in some cantons, still confers a “right of middle-class” preliminary to obtaining naturalization.

There exists a “Swiss Federation of the bourgeoisies and corporations” whose role is in particular to defend the “maintenance of the institutions bourgeoisiales”.

In the canton of the Were worth, it exists still many bourgeoisies active.

Sources

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