That’s very true, and I think I may have originally misunderstood your comment.
Workers in general, don’t really count as “the middle class”. White collar or blue collar…they’re all still “working class”, no matter how much they earn.
Petit bourgeoisie applies to any entrepreneurs or small business owners. They aren’t “wealthy”, and they are still technically “working for a living”. But, they also aren’t “selling their labor”…they’re buying someone else’s.
They’re the transitional class that sits between the working class and the bourgeoisie. That’s always what I’ve understood the “middle class” to be.
Interestingly someone employed in a highly-sought-after profession may be more financially stable and well-off than a struggling small company owner, even if the latter employs others.
Or to take an example from my wider family: A lady in her 70s (with a more well-off relative securing the loan) managed to buy a small flat to rent out on AirBnB. If not for this, her state pension would not be enough to cover her food and bills, and no one hires older women where she lives. (And she has no savings to speak of.) Like, she’s technically a landlord now, but even with the AirBnB income she’s barely scraping by, so I can’t really see her as bourgeois.
That’s very true, and I think I may have originally misunderstood your comment.
Workers in general, don’t really count as “the middle class”. White collar or blue collar…they’re all still “working class”, no matter how much they earn.
Petit bourgeoisie applies to any entrepreneurs or small business owners. They aren’t “wealthy”, and they are still technically “working for a living”. But, they also aren’t “selling their labor”…they’re buying someone else’s.
They’re the transitional class that sits between the working class and the bourgeoisie. That’s always what I’ve understood the “middle class” to be.
Interestingly someone employed in a highly-sought-after profession may be more financially stable and well-off than a struggling small company owner, even if the latter employs others.
Or to take an example from my wider family: A lady in her 70s (with a more well-off relative securing the loan) managed to buy a small flat to rent out on AirBnB. If not for this, her state pension would not be enough to cover her food and bills, and no one hires older women where she lives. (And she has no savings to speak of.) Like, she’s technically a landlord now, but even with the AirBnB income she’s barely scraping by, so I can’t really see her as bourgeois.