Ever heard the term “bougie?” (It’s pronounced with a soft g, as opposed to ‘boogie’, which is pronounced with a hard g.)
I heard “bougie” for the first time this past summer from several of my college students. The students found it humorous that I had never heard the term, but they cut me some slack because I’m old.
“Bougie,” of course, derives from “bourgeois.” My students didn’t realize that because most had never heard the term “bourgeois,” and the few who had really didn’t know what it means. I cut them some slack because they’re young.
Karl Marx used bourgeois, with much venom, as a synonym for the capitalist class and the values and habits of that class. Most other writers define bourgeois more broadly as the middle and upper classes and their values and habits.
“Bougie” is a tongue-in-cheek term with several meanings. One student said that if you’re in the mood for some serious shopping, you’re “feeling bougie.” Another student explained that to be “bougie” is to purchase upscale consumer items to create the impression that you have money and upscale consumer tastes, even if you don’t.
Either way, the fact that 21st century American young adults have come up with the term “bougie” and use it with such playful irony would have Karl Marx wailing and gnashing his teeth in his grave. And not just Marx. From well before Marx to the present day, scores of intellectuals, from the right as well as from the left, have reviled bourgeois society for being shallow, materialistic, small-minded and devoid of real virtue.
And not just intellectuals. Artists, frequently those whom bourgeois society has made rich, as well as aristocrats and cultural defenders of aristocracy have made denigrating bourgeois society a reason for living.
One of the slams against bourgeois society is that its moral and spiritual shallowness render it incapable of inspiring anything great or transcendent, or an appreciation of the great or transcendent, especially in literature, music and art.
Hmmm. Consider the most bourgeois society on the planet, that of our own country. So: no great or transcendent literature, music, or art has ever been produced in America? Really? One ought to look a bit before making such a claim.
But bourgeois society’s contribution to literature, music and art goes far beyond what it has produced. Thanks to bourgeois capitalism, people of all walks of life have sufficient income and leisure to enjoy the world’s greatest literature, music and art.
Bourgeois society has made the greatest literature available dirt cheap. Cervantes’ Don Quixote can be had for $8, Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for $6.
Each of Shakespeare’s plays are available for $5, while volumes of his complete works start at $22.
The greatest music is available at comparable prices. Even better, one can listen to the greatest music for free at that wonderful bourgeois audio-video circus, youtube.com.
What about great art? One can view masterpieces ‘second hand’ in books or on-line. Good art, though, is readily available for ‘first hand’ viewing and even purchase.
Bourgeois society has a huge appetite for art. No need to look far for proof. St. Simons Island is loaded with art stores. And as the rejuvenation of downtown Brunswick kicks into gear, art shops and studios are leading the way.
No doubt plenty of you will be giving great books, great music, and local art as Christmas gifts. The people who receive those gifts will be enriched far beyond the price of the gift. Now, if you ask me, that’s what ‘feeling bougie’ ought to mean.
Reg Murphy Center