Master confusing words with ease
Bourgeois vs. Proletariat
Bourgeois
/ˈbʊəʒwɑː/Examples:
She's frustrated with her parents' bourgeois lifestyle.His art critiques the superficiality of bourgeois values.They strive to live beyond the bourgeois constraints.
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Proletariat
Examples:
The novel chronicles the rise of the proletariat.As automation grows, the proletariat's role is evolving.Many social movements focus on empowering the proletariat.
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Ways to tell them apart:
- Bourgeois often refers to the middle or upper classes who own capital or property, while proletariat refers to the working class who sell their labor.
- Think of bourgeois as those with business or property, and proletariat as those who work in factories or manual labor.
- The word bourgeois can sometimes imply materialistic or conventional attitudes, whereas proletariat is linked to struggles for workers' rights.
- In a Marxist context, bourgeois is seen as the oppressor class and proletariat as the oppressed class.
- Bourgeois has its origin in a French term meaning town dweller, while proletariat comes from a Latin term meaning offspring, indicating lower social status.
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