Bourgeoisie is a polysemous French term that can mean:a sociologically defined social class, especially in contemporary times, referring to people with a certain cultural and financial capital belonging to the middle or upper middle class: the upper (haute), middle (moyenne), and petty (petite) bourgeoisie ; an affluent and often opulent stratum of the middle class as contrasted with the proletariat class. originally and generally, "those who live in the borough", that is to say, the people of the city, as opposed to those of rural areas; in this sense, the bourgeoisie began to grow in Europe from the 11th century and particularly during the Renaissance of the 12th century, with the first developments of rural exodus and urbanization. a legally defined class of the Middle Ages to the end of the Ancien Régime in French-speaking Europe, that of inhabitants' having the rights of citizenship and political rights in a city.
