The Formation of the Parisian Bourgeoisie: 1690-1830.

In Old Regime France, positions of local power were acquired through family connections more often than by wealth alone. Middle-class families in the French capital retained their status through geographical stasis and enthusiastic procreation. As in Britain, the French bourgeois achieved financial security through the pursuit of business activities, and lineage was strengthened by the expansion of economic resources sufficient to support numerous offspring and to ensure robust local marriage for them. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, as children of the long-established local families moved out of the district, positions of authority were assumed by newcomers. The …