In sociology and in political science, the noun bourgeoisie (Fr.: [ˈbuʁʒwazi] | Eng.: /bʊərʒwɑːˈziː/) and the adjective bourgeois are terms that describe an historical range of socio-economic classes. As such, in the Western world, since the late 18th century, the bourgeoisie describes a social class “characterized by their ownership of capital, and their related culture”; hence, the personal terms bourgeois (masculine) and bourgeoise (feminine) culturally identify the man or woman who is a member of the wealthiest social class in capitalist societies.

In contemporary academic theories, the term bourgeoisie usually refers to the ruling class in capitalist societies. In Marxist theory, the abiding characteristics of this class are their ownership of the means of production.

The Modern French word bourgeois derived from the Old French burgeis (walled city), which derived from bourg (market town), from the Old Frankish burg (town); in other European languages, the etymologic derivations are the Middle English burgeis, the Middle Dutch burgher, the German Bürger (burgess), and the Polish burżuazja, which occasionally is synonymous with “the intelligentsia”. In English, “bourgeoisie” (a French citizen-class) identified a social class oriented to economic materialism and hedonism, and to upholding the extreme political and economic interests of the capitalist class ruling class. In the 18th century, before the French Revolution (1789–99), in the French feudal order, the masculine and feminine terms bourgeois and bourgeoise identified the rich men and women who were members of the urban and rural Third Estate — the common people of the French realm, who violently deposed the absolute monarchy of the Bourbon King Louis XVI (r. 1774–91), his clergy, and his aristocrats. Hence, since the 19th century, the term “bourgeoisie” usually is politically and sociologically synonymous with the ruling upper class of a capitalist society.