The bourgeoisie ( (listen) BOORZH-wah-ZEE, French: [buʁʒwazi] (listen)) is a class of business owners and merchants which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between peasantry and aristocracy. After the overthrow of the aristocratic regimes in the 17th and 18th centuries, the bourgeoisie became the upper class under capitalism. They are traditionally contrasted with the proletariat by their wealth, political power, and education, as well as their access to and control of cultural and financial capital. They are sometimes divided into a petty (petite), middle (moyenne), large (grande), upper (haute), and ancient (ancienne) bourgeoisie and collectively designated as "the bourgeoisie".

The bourgeoisie in its original sense is intimately linked to the political ideology of Liberalism and its existence within cities, recognized as such by their urban charters (e.g., municipal charters, town privileges, German town law), so there was no bourgeoisie apart from the citizenry of the cities. Rural peasants came under a different legal system.

In Communist philosophy, the bourgeoisie is the social class that came to own the means of production during modern industrialization and whose societal concerns are the value of private property and the preservation of capital to ensure the perpetuation of their economic dominance in society.