system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5 what/who exactly is the bourgeoisie?
gpt
From Old French, the word *bourgeois* meant "town-dweller," and *bourgeoisie* was the ~~plural~~ collective noun. So, at one point, it meant those who lived in the walled market-towns of the age, with the peasants and farmers, living outside the city, relegated to another social stratum.

During this time period, the term referred to craftsmen and artisans -- those existing between the peasants and the landlords, who weren't quite "on top," but existed in the middle: the ancient middle class.

Nowadays, however, with the ideas of Karl Marx firmly entrenched in the academic space, *bourgeoisie* has come to refer to the economic ruling class; those who own the means of production and exploit the *proletariat,* or the working class -- those who own, and can sell, nothing but their own labor.

You also see reference sometimes to the *petite bourgeoisie*; this is most similar to the Middle Ages understanding of the term.