The petite bourgeoisie is/was real. Not sure if it’s the same thing as what people refer to as “middle class,” but it is a separate “class” of people who’s interests mostly lie with the proletariat, yet their small business or whatever makes them believe and act as though they’re part of the owner class.
here in sweden at least we specifically had 4 classes around that time: Nobility, priests, bourgeoise/merchants, and farmers. Bougies were defined by being allowed to run businesses in cities, as farmers in sweden largely kept to themselves outside of cities and basically only interacted with the other classes during specific occasions like selling/buying things in the city or doing legal stuff or more significant religious things.
The petite bourgeoisie is/was real. Not sure if it’s the same thing as what people refer to as “middle class,” but it is a separate “class” of people who’s interests mostly lie with the proletariat, yet their small business or whatever makes them believe and act as though they’re part of the owner class.
The merchant class was certainly a thing after the black plague.
They had enough wealth that they had political influence.
here in sweden at least we specifically had 4 classes around that time: Nobility, priests, bourgeoise/merchants, and farmers. Bougies were defined by being allowed to run businesses in cities, as farmers in sweden largely kept to themselves outside of cities and basically only interacted with the other classes during specific occasions like selling/buying things in the city or doing legal stuff or more significant religious things.
Removed by mod