Bourgeoisie is social class of the capitalist regime, where its members are the owners of capital, that is, merchants, industrialists, owners of land, real estate, the possessors of wealth and the means of production.
Bourgeoisie is the quality of the bourgeois. It is the opposite of the proletariat, the working class, whose only asset is labor power. From the Latin "burgus", which means fortress, or from the German "burgs", small town.
Origin of the bourgeoisie
The word bourgeoisie comes from "burgo", the name given to medieval cities, inhabited in large part by merchants, who were called bourgeois. This commercial bourgeoisie, enriched by the practice of commerce, gradually infiltrated the aristocracy and began to dominate political, social and economic life from the French Revolution onwards, establishing itself throughout the century. XIX.
Over time, the bourgeoisie came to diversify into upper bourgeoisie, holder of the means of production, and middle and petty bourgeoisie (in the 20th century designated as class media), which encompasses those who exercise liberal professions and all those who are somehow linked to the high economic spheres and the ruling classes.