Bourgeois personality

The term bourgeois is a social label applied to an individual who is seen as typical of the middle classes, both upper and lower, valuing economic materialism and the appearance of respectability. Exuding an image of success through consumption, personal behavior, speech and intellectual development are common attributes of a bourgeois personality. As opposed to a person with radical tendencies or one who exhibits bohemianism, the bourgeois lifestyle tends to be more traditional, centered around consumerism and activities deemed respectable by the bourgeoisie. The term may be used with negative connotations, emphasizing the perceived conspicuous consumption patterns, materialism and status obsession of a bourgeois mind-set.
Typical of the higher bourgeoisie is very exclusive behavior resulting from a lack of inherited aristocratic experience, and a desire to appear important and "involved". This is a feature of the social class itself and the un-aristocratic behaviour may continue for many generations, even with enormous wealth. Although derided by European aristocracy accustomed to being in the public view for centuries, the exclusiveness of the higher bourgeoisie has a mystique in American culture, where it is commonly viewed as a desirable social experience. Recent examples in entertainment are The Talented Mr. Ripley and The Game, in which the wealthy characters are still fundamentally middle class, although this is not a view present in the films. A delightful early mockery of certain aspects of the bourgeois personality is Le Bourgeois gentilhomme by Molière. The Academy Award winning Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie examines other familiar aspects.
A common way to give an aristocratic appearance in America is to stress the minor differences between the "middle classes" and the "upper class", which in fact exhibit similar behaviours and share common origins. This exists in the absence of a landed gentry, which in Europe forms the base of the natural upper class, or the nobility (who have historically enjoyed very public lives). The military culture is historically associated with the nobility, but in America it is frequently derided by the haute bourgeoisie. This American phenomenon is observed in other parts of the world, and even in small parts of America, with great fascination and disdain.
The Ivy League colleges, not commonly attended by the small American "nobility" of colonial families, are almost exclusively associated with bourgeois social networks. Note the standard association of these schools with social class in the United States in recent academic economic models, which take little account of more traditional forms of aristocracy. Clearly the focus is on the bourgeoisie. Compare social structure of Britain.
Classic bourgeois occupations include merchant, retailer, banker, investment banker, stockbroker, corporate executive, hedge fund manager, venture capitalist, financier, and most "financial functionaries", but not all types of business leader. In addition, there are "private" individuals whose wealth and status comes only from their employment of the bourgeoisie. The essential goal is the easy acquisition of wealth to give the impression of social status, while not engaging in any sort of activity normally associated with it, such as military heroism, national level leadership, or great scientific achievement. This situation can give the impression that a secretive and inert haute bourgeoisie is somehow "in charge" of a nation when this is not actually the case. The impression is created when their personal wealth is compared with that of the more dynamic, stately and military people in a society, whom it is argued are somehow almost selflessly defending the interests of the bourgeoisie and less their own. While a popular argument, there is little historical evidence for such a phenomenon. Wars are frequently waged for industry or the sake of it, but these are done in the national interest and for the personal vanity of leaders, and it is simply inevitable that many belonging to the financial classes will profit. Greatly contributing to the illusion is overinclusion, where powerful industries become lumped together with the bourgeoisie in the popular mind because they make use of their financial services. Physicians and psychiatrists, however, are considered bourgeois if profiting from the sale of prescription drugs and thus functioning as merchants.
A common feature of bourgeois speech is the presentation of aspiration as fact. Phrases like "new social hierarchy in which the bourgeoisie rule" express either the aspirations of the bourgeoisie in a society where they do not rule, or the mistaken paranoia of revolutionaries unfairly targeting the wealthy as a class. Though wealthy, the haute bourgeoisie are still "soft targets" of a kind, and their meek exclusiveness hurts and does not help in this case. A nation is ruled by the political, military and religious forces, in a great variety of power sharing arrangements, which defend it and separate it from other nations. The commercial classes enjoy no direct authority.
Debatable is whether or not conspicuous unpretentiousness is a common feature of the bourgeois personality, and whether it should even be counted as a deceitful behaviour.
Conspicuous aid
See International aid, Foundation, Dependency
Middle-class values
Sociologists such as Paula LeMasters have identified progressive values such as respect for non-conformity, self-direction, autonomy, gender equality and openness to innovation as middle class values in child-raising. Many values identified as belonging to the middle classes may be related to the needs of middle-class professions. Self-control, advanced expertise, as well as innovation are commonly important to succeeding in middle-class occupations.<ref name="The American Class Structure"/>

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