petit-bourgeois
UK[ˌpɛti ˈbʊəʒwɑː]US[ˌpɛti bʊrˈʒwɑ]
adj
Relating to or characteristic of the lower middle class, especially in being conventional, conservative, or materialistic in outlook.
n
A member of the lower middle class, especially one who is seen as overly conventional or materialistic.
Morpheme Breakdown
petit
bourgeois
petit
small
bourgeois
middle-class citizen
Etymology
The term is a direct loan from French, where it literally means 'small bourgeois'. It emerged in the 19th century within Marxist and socialist discourse to describe a distinct social stratum. The 'petit' (small) distinguishes this group from the haute or grande bourgeoisie (the capitalist class), referring instead to small business owners, shopkeepers, and white-collar workers. The logic hinges on the scale of their capital and social influence; they possess property and means of production but on a modest, individual scale, leading to an ideology often characterized as conservative, conventional, and focused on material security and social respectability.
Analysis
Structure: petit (small) + bourgeois (middle-class citizen)
petit: From Old French, meaning 'small'. Its origin is Latin pitittus, a vulgar Latin variant of paucus (few, little).
bourgeois: From Old French burgeis, meaning 'town dweller', from bourg (town, fortress), from Late Latin burgus (fortress, town), of Germanic origin.
Examples
His petit-bourgeois obsession with keeping up appearances was evident in his meticulously maintained lawn.
The novel satirizes the petit-bourgeois values of the suburban family.
Politicians often accused him of appealing to petit-bourgeois anxieties about economic change.