The Bourgeoisie In The 17th Century

“Social class refers to a group of people within a society who possess roughly the same socioeconomic status.” (“Social Class”)

The upper class were the rich and with the advancement of new technology, became richer. Goods could be created and sold for a cheaper price in their factories. With the working class looking for work, were employed by the factory owners. The advantaged social class that had enjoyed wealth and success, had now achieved a new level of luxury.

During the late 1700s, production and manufacturing were centralized around people’s homes and farms. The majority of the work produced was done to provide for individual or community use; often hard labor, basic machines, and hand tools were used to carry out tasks. An era of powered machines and factories created the Industrial mark across the nation. Textile and iron industries developed the steam engine to help improve transportation and exchange to increase manufactured goods. While the impact improved the standard of living for a small majority, others a large majority remained poor and living in poverty. Urban cities that housed large manufacturing plants that provided jobs in often overcrowded cities and poor living conditions.

The market revolution was a relatively rough time for American settlers. Life was pretty hard because of the quick, drastic changes that were taking place, but these changes also resulted in a very good factor of America that still stands today serving every citizen, transportation. So while the market revolution was stressing the Americans, there was a large book in population, and the increase of transportation, which would cut travel times by whole days at a time. The changes of the market revolution may sound like they were rushed into existence, the markets actually just naturally evolved.

In the early 19th century rural worker produced their own goods and were very self sufficient. Farm families grew their own crops and raised their own animals and made their own clothing, candles, and soap. They would sell those products at markets for money to buy certain products that couldn't be produced on their own. By the middle of the 19th century, America, especially in the Northeast, became more industrialized. This spurred on a Market Revolution. People were buying and selling goods instead of making it for personal use. This caused big changes in not only the US economy, but in the daily lives of Americans. The incomes of everyday Americans rose as goods and services grew. Inventions such as the textile mill and interchangeable parts played a huge role in the improvements and growth of factories in the North. Interchangeable parts allowed mass production and strengthened industry. With the Market Revolution came an Economic Revolution. This impacted communication as well as transportation. The telegraph, invented in 1837, allowed instantaneous communication and railroads allowed safe, reliable, and quick transportation. Water transportation, such as steamboats and canals, made it easier to move heavy machinery and raw materials. The building of canals and railroads required a large amount of workers. The labor demand grew which caused many immigrants to come to America for new opportunities to make a living. The investment in canals and railroads also turned the Northeast into the center of commerce in America, and after opening the Eerie Canal, New York City became the main link between agriculture in America and European markets. The improvements in transportation and communication aided in allowing Americans in different regions to keep in touch in addition to creating interdependencies and markets.

44. The wide availability of reading material in colonial America was the result of the spread of printing technology.

Diffusion was facilitated by merchant activity, government policies, and advancements in transportation. Traveling for goods and trading, merchants exposed their own cultures to new places and introduced their lifestyles. Governments encouraged trade for a prosperous economy and luxury goods. Transportation innovated along trade routes to help transfer goods by using domesticated animals and systems to help

The Industrial Revolution was a time of great advancement for America as a whole. The bourgeoisie felt the positive effects of this in the form of new entrepreneurship opportunities, growth of existing business and an overall wealth increase. As their means to faster and more efficient transportation grew, so did the productivity of factories and distribution. The bourgeoisie were known for their high standard of living throughout the revolution. They lived and worked comfortably, constantly expanding their power and capital.

During the 16th and 17th centuries it is clear and evident that the centralization of power, or the absolutism in and hierarchy, does in fact induce stability in society, however, it is also evident via the given readings that absolutism also had its flaws which were later proved to be its downfall. It essentially all boils down a single concept of the people versus government. This is evident in the history of the French prior and leading up to the Révolution. In addition to, the monarchy of the English under King James VI and I’s rule. As complicated as the nature of government is, when power or authority is concentrated excessively into a single point, the society will crack by that very same point if a healthy relationship between citizen and ruler is not established. One cannot expect to bully and undermine one’s citizens without considering the possibility that one day they will rise up against him or her and “religious” masks can only be worn for so long before people recognize the hypocrisies present within them. Both of these truths are evident as seen in the given texts. Specifically, with The Great Cat Massacre, On The Social Order and Absolute Monarchy, by Jean Domat, and Trew Law of Free Monarchies, King James VI & I.

The bourgeoisie used politics, new technological developments, and religion to manipulate the economics and to insure their control sustaining their status. In doing this they kept the proletariats salves to the rich helpless against their control. Capital is a social product and only exists in the social systems. It is not personal but a social power and the lower class becomes dependant on the elite for his survival.

Throughout The Communist Manifesto, Marx expresses the political, economic and social turmoil that were present in their society. During this time period, agriculture production was the main occupation. This resulted in a class struggle between the landowners and the serfs who labored the land. A new, manufacturing class emerged from this conflict called the bourgeoisie. Bourgeoisie changed the focus from agriculture to industrialization and commerce. Having “less dexterity and strength [that] is required in manual labor, [helps] modern industry develop” and prosper throughout society (Marx 131). This more proficient way to produce commodities helped the bourgeoisie control global and domestic trade. They eventually reached a point where they were inhibited by the feudal government and could not progress at the original rate they were going. Resulting from this, the French Revolution occurred and the bourgeoisie demolished the aristocracy that was originally present during this primitive time. Unfortunately, this did not resolve the primary

The nobility of the Kingdom of France has been evaluated by various scholars of history. There is something to be said, however, for those who chronicled their impressions while living them in the 17th and 18th centuries. The excerpts of Charles Loyseau’s A Treatise on Orders, written in 1610, and Isabelle de Charriere’s The Nobleman, written in 1763 provide two very different glimpses on the French nobility from differing time periods. From these two accounts, it is clear that there was a marked shift in the way some viewed the nobility and their role in the operation of the French state. While Loyseau praises the nobility nearly wholeheartedly,

As the bourgeois advanced financially, they also gained political influence. They progressed from a once oppressed class to an independent urban republic. As their political influence increased, certain changes became clear. The bourgeois had “torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation to a mere money relation (Marx).” This force eventually grew to the point that it was able to force other nations to conform to its values and methods or suffer extinction. As the bourgeois became richer, the proletarians began to suffer more. The balance of property began to shift even more rapidly than before leaving property “concentrated…in a few hands (Marx).” Eventually, the super-efficient production of the manufacturing economy began to take its toll on the bourgeois as well as the proletarians. More goods were produced due to the cheaper costs and ease of manufacture leading to an over-production of goods (Marxism). Over-production became a serious problem, resulting with widespread unemployment of the proletarians, and threats of a revolution on the horizons.

Not only did the bourgeoisie run the businesses, but also political matters. The power was shifting to the side of the owners, causing the gap between the proletariats and the bourgeoisie to grow bigger and bigger. The dominant force in Europe was actually creating a weapon without the realization of what they were doing. The labors, living conditions, and status of the proletariats created tension within the structure of the French society. The peasants even paid for the way of others, "it was on the peasants that all the abuses in the assessment

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were full of evolving social and economic ideas. These views of the social structure of urban society came about through the development of ideas taken from the past revolutions. As the Industrial Revolution progressed through out the world, so did the gap between the class structures. The development of a capitalist society was a very favorable goal for the upper class. By using advanced methods of production introduced by the Industrial Revolution, they were able to earn a substantial surplus by ruling the middle class. Thus, maintaining their present class of life, while the middle class was exploited and degraded. At this time in history, social