Petite Bourgeoisie

(Sometimes spelled as “petty bourgeoisie.”) Refers to, in my classes, the group of people in a capitalist society who mainline sociologists usually refer to as the “lower middle class”: that is, people ranging from small business owners to professionals. In other words, they are the people who (while aspiring to bourgeois status) structurally sit between the capitalist class proper (the bourgeoisie) and the working classes.

In a racial state, such as the apartheid state or the colonial state, the petite bourgeoisie within the subordinate group will usually be those who are the intermediary between the dominant race and the subordinate race (e.g., the clergy, lower level civil servants, small property owners, office workers, interpreters, traders, teachers, nurses, and policemen). Note, however, that this role may also be played by the traditional elites, such as chiefs—or their state-appointed equivalents—though they are not considered part of the petite bourgeoisie (since the latter term is reserved for those associated with a modern capitalist order.)