The key difference between bourgeoisie and proletariat is that bourgeoisie is the middle class that owns the means of production, whereas the proletariat is the working class that does not own the means of production and is employed by the bourgeoisie for their labour.
Bourgeoisie refers to the upper middle class. They make huge profits while Proletariats earn the minimum amount of wages. They are also similar to the upper class. In capitalism, they are identified as the capitalist class. According to Karl Marx, capitalism is based on the exploitation of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Bourgeoisie
3. What is Proletariat
4. Bourgeoisie vs Proletariat in Tabular Form
5. Summary – Bourgeoisie vs Proletariat
What is Bourgeoisie?
The bourgeoisie is the upper middle class. They are also sometimes identified as the upper class. According to Marxism, they are the capitalist class that owns most of society’s money. The bourgeoisie is made up of wealthy people that do not engage in manual labour. They live from the income from their properties or invested money. They own the means of production, including factories, raw materials, financial capital, land, and property, and employ labourers or proletariats.
During the medieval period, the bourgeoisie consisted of bankers, businessmen, and merchants. They were considered a class between feudal and peasants. Then during the industrial revolution and capitalism, they became economically powerful and controlled the legal system and other legal authorities of the country. This power made them exploit and suppress the people belonging to the working class.
What is Proletariat?
The proletariat is the working class. They sell their manual labour to the bourgeoisie because they are employed by them. They work for the lowest wages under hazardous conditions. They often get exploited by the bourgeois and accept it because of their false class consciousness and think it is inevitable.
The people who belong to this class usually live in poverty because they do not own any means of production, like factories, machines, mines, property, land, and vehicles. They are considered one of the lowest social classes in society and were even deprived of voting at one time.
Since proletariats cannot afford the means of production, the bourgeoisie hires them. The goods produced by proletariats become the property of the bourgeoisie, who sell them at the market and earn an income. A part of the income is for the wages of the proletariats, and another part is for the renewal of the means of production, and the last part is for the capitalists. In this process, the proletariats work daily for daily or hourly labour while the bourgeoisie accumulates the capital. The exploitation happens because the workers who are responsible for transforming the raw material into goods do not receive the payment proportional to the work performed since the work value is far greater than the wages they receive.
What is the Difference Between Bourgeoisie and Proletariat?
The key difference between bourgeoisie and proletariat is that bourgeoisie is the middle class that owns the means of production, whereas the proletariat is the working class that does not own the means of production and is employed by the bourgeoisie for their labour.
The below infographic presents the differences between bourgeoisie and proletariat in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.
Summary – Bourgeoisie vs Proletariat
The bourgeoisie is the upper middle class. They own the production of goods, lands, property, and most of the riches in the country, unlike the proletariat, which is the working class. Proletariats do not own the production of goods, property, or any other riches. They sell their labour for minimum wages and often get exploited by the bourgeoisie. So, this is the summary of the difference between bourgeoisie and proletariat.
Reference:
1. “Bourgeoisie.” Wikipedia. Wikipedia Foundation.
2. “Proletariat.” Wikipedia. Wikipedia Foundation.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Pyramid of Capitalist System” – Artist not credited. Published by International Pub. Co., Cleveland, Ohio. – Uni Hamburg (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia