Manet, The Railway
The bourgeoisie is the ruling class in capitalism. The nineteenth century marks the domination of the bourgeoisie. Referring to people belonging to the upper or even intermediate strata of the middle, high, middle and petty bourgeoisie, having a certain culture and high financial means compared to the majority of the population living in France and its surroundings, the word "bourgeoisie" appeared in the French language a very long time ago. The bourgeoisie mainly lives in the cities. In this social class stand bankers accumulating gigantic fortunes and powerful families of industrialists, bosses, doctors as well as lawyers and young people working in literature. The bourgeoisie occupied a large place in politics and gradually took power, some bourgeois were even elected mayor. Economic development also multiplies the trades where one sells one's knowledge, enriching an increasingly numerous urban bourgeoisie, proud of its way of life...
The bourgeoisie gave its style, its customs and its tastes to the nineteenth century. It will have to confront the working class. The bourgeoisie owns the capital and the working class owns the labour. It is a class struggle, the bourgeoisie has attributed poverty, disease, vice, alcoholism, begging and crime to the working class. For the bourgeoisie, proletariat is the risk of disorder, destruction, chaos and death. Clearly seen by their dwellings, the bourgeois are far better off than the proletariats who live crammed into leprous tenements.