Construire et déconstruire la bourgeoisie: Discours politique et imaginaire social au début du XIXe siècle

Translated title of the contribution: Constructing and deconstructing the bourgeoisie: Political discourse and social imaginary in the early 19th century

Sarah Maza*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

This article explores the problematic status of "the bourgeoisie" in the social imaginary of post-revolutionary France. It begins by positing that the bourgeoisie was not a major discursive category either under the old regime or the revolution : no major group identified itself as such, and the revolutionaries associated bourgeois with aristocracy. "The bourgeoisie" as a major conceptual category was born of the political circumstances of the 1815 Bourbon restoration and especially the ultra reaction of the 1820s. Ultimately, the article poses the question as to whether "the bourgeoisie" as a unified and self-conscious group really existed in the early nineteenth century beyond the denunciations and satires of its self-appointed enemies.

Translated title of the contributionConstructing and deconstructing the bourgeoisie: Political discourse and social imaginary in the early 19th century
Original languageFrench
Pages (from-to)21-37
Number of pages17
JournalRevue d'Histoire du XIXe Siecle
Volume34
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2007

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • History

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Constructing and deconstructing the bourgeoisie: Political discourse and social imaginary in the early 19th century'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this