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Bourgeoisie
Petty bourgeoisie is one translation of the Marxist term “petite bourgeoisie” (literally “small bourgeoisie”), which refers to a class with some property and economic power that lies somewhere between the proletariat and bourgeoisie in a capitalist society. Generally, this class politically defends, intellectually justifies, and culturally imitates the bourgeoisie (which actually holds the bulk of economic and political power). In Marx’s time, the petty bourgeoisie was largely a combination of merchants and writers, and in the 21st century, this would include upwardly-mobile small business owners and white collar workers (like managers, bureaucrats, lawyers, and so on) who aspire to wealth and defend the interests of the ruling class. In Césaire’s context, the petty bourgeoisie includes Europeans and Americans who praise and promote colonialization, even if they do not have direct power over politics or stand to personally profit from taking resources and labor from Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
Petty Bourgeoisie Quotes in Discourse on Colonialism
The Discourse on Colonialism quotes below are all either spoken by Petty Bourgeoisie or refer to Petty Bourgeoisie. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Section 3
Quotes
One cannot say that the petty bourgeois has never read anything. On the contrary, he has read everything, devoured everything.
Only, his brain functions after the fashion of certain elementary types of digestive systems. It filters. And the filter lets through only what can nourish the thick skin of the bourgeois’s clear conscience.
Before the arrival of the French in their country, the Vietnamese were people of an old culture, exquisite and refined. To recall this fact upsets the digestion of the Banque d’Indochine. Start the forgetting machine!
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Petty Bourgeoisie Term Timeline in Discourse on Colonialism
The timeline below shows where the term Petty Bourgeoisie appears in Discourse on Colonialism. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Section 3
...equality and technological advancement. (The Soviet Union is a start, Césaire thinks.) And the French petty bourgeois who aid and abet colonization are not ignorant about the civilizations they have destroyed: on...
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Section 5
...or valuable, but that it nonetheless represents the way countless Europeans think, specifically “the Western petty bourgeois ie.” Ironically, while they praise humanism, “the West has never been further from” it.
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