Bourgeois liberalism (simplified Chinese: 资产阶级自由主义 zh; traditional Chinese: 資產階級自由主義; pinyin: zīchăn jiējí zìyóu zhŭyì) refers to either parliamentary democracy or Western popular culture. The foundations for bourgeois liberalism is that of Adam Smith's writing The Wealth of Nations, seen in 19th-century classical economic liberalism. The French term bourgeois' origins are that of 'middle class' however Marxist usage implies bankers or merchants. The late 1980s saw the first major usage of the term when a number of campaigns against bourgeois liberalism were initiated lasting till the early 1990s.
The term is in active use in Chinese politics, with the Communist Party of China's Constitution stating party objectives include "combat bourgeois liberalization" in line with the four cardinal principles.
Famous quotes containing the words bourgeois and/or liberalism:
“In bourgeois society, the French and the industrial revolution transformed the authorization of political space. The political revolution put an end to the formalized hierarchy of the ancien regimé.... Concurrently, the industrial revolution subverted the social hierarchy upon which the old political space was based. It transformed the experience of society from one of vertical hierarchy to one of horizontal class stratification.”
—Donald M. Lowe, U.S. historian, educator. History of Bourgeois Perception, ch. 4, University of Chicago Press (1982)
“There are two kinds of liberalism. A liberalism which is always, subterraneously authoritative and paternalistic, on the side of one’s good conscience. And then there is a liberalism which is more ethical than political; one would have to find another name for this. Something like a profound suspension of judgment.”
—Roland Barthes (1915–1980)