The middle class is a representative of the middle class. Why did the word "bourgeois" acquire a negative connotation?

"Well, everything, swamped the philistine swamp!" - says the heroine of the famous film. In her words, undisguised sarcasm and contempt. The philistine is a representative of the estate that existed before 1917. A man is hardworking, law-abiding, honoring family values. Why did this word acquire a negative connotation?

Etymology

"Meshchanin" is a word of foreign origin. In translation from Polish - a resident of the city. In Russian speech the term came in the seventeenth century. During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, everything Polish was fashionable. "Bourgeois" is a concept that has become firmly entrenched in troubled times not only in colloquial speech, but also in political and legal terminology.

City people

In the seventeenth century, a person extremely unprotected in the legal and moral sense was a petty bourgeois. This he was forbidden to lay his own yard. It was called "a black city man". And it was mercilessly flogged in the stables for the slightest fault. However, there were still peasants. But this is a separate conversation.

If a Russian nobleman in the seventeenth century were asked to pick up a synonym for the word "burghers", he, without hesitation, would utter an insulting expression "black city people". There was another option, more euphonious - "Posad".

The existence of a petty bourgeois in Russia was poisoned by charges and duties. Some townspeople were so depressed with such a state of affairs that they left their craft and went to the village where they entered the slaves.

In the Petrine era in the middle class, two guilds were singled out. The first included bankers, merchants, healers, pharmacists, jewelers. The second - craftsmen, owners of taverns and representatives of other, less revered professions.

Under Catherine II

The meaning of the word "burgher" was determined by the empress in one of the documents. Catherine II called this category of Russian residents middle class. They did not belong to the grain-growers, nor to the nobles. In addition, a more detailed classification of the petty bourgeoisie was created. In general, their life under Catherine became bearable. They even began to be called "correct urban inhabitants".

The original philistine societies were created and existed for more than two hundred years. Participants in such associations had certain duties and privileges.

In the New Time

Philistine class has a long history. Its decline dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century, when the word "intelligentsia" appeared in Russian. More precisely, this term arose much earlier. But people who belonged to this category appeared at the beginning of the 20th century.

Intellectuals disliked the philistines, calling them "ordinary people" or "owners". In the words of these, it would seem, there is nothing wrong. However, the Soviet government arrived in time with its utopian idea of universal happiness. The philistine in her ideology did not fit. The word that once gave rise to reverence became almost a curse.

"The philistine in the nobility"

The analogue of the Russian bourgeois in Europe is the bourgeois. The representative of this class was also a kind of intermediate link between the lower estate and the aristocracy. But if in the peasants he did not hurry to write himself down, then he strove to join the nobles. On this subject, Moliere wrote a comedy.

The hero of the French playwright tries in every possible way to become like an aristocrat. However, ignorance and stupid imitation ruins him. The author calls the burgher a "black-haired man in peacock feathers".

Comedy Moliere is not social. In this dramatic work ridiculed, first of all, human vices. But the fact that the word "bourgeois" acquired a negative connotation was played by the hero of the famous comedy.

In modern times

What is meant today by the term "burghers"? The definition of such a word can be given as follows: people of low spiritual culture, concerned about the acquisition of things, deprived of a sense of social responsibility.

Philistinism in colloquial speech today is also called bad taste. This understanding of the term arose in connection with the generally accepted opinion that many representatives of this class in the eighteenth and nineteenth century had the opportunity to acquire luxuries, but they could not do it correctly. "Right" in this context means in accordance with aristocratic taste.

Philistinism in the 21st century

Synonyms for the word "philistine" can serve as the literary term "philistine". This word has a contemptuous connotation. Philistine is the opposite of romance. It is a philistine who is not interested in aesthetic values.

Returning to the negative, almost abusive word "petty bourgeois", it should be said that its main significance in the modern understanding is the preference for spiritual material values. The term is applied to those who are not interested in literature and art. To those for whom the meaning of life is to acquire real estate, clothing items. The petty bourgeois is a self-serving person, always pursuing his base goals.

However, according to this terminology, in modern society, the most common type of person is precisely the one that should be designated by this word.