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''Nouveau riche'' (; ) is a term used, usually in a derogatory way, to describe those whose
wealth Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an I ...
has been acquired within their own generation, rather than by familial
inheritance Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officia ...
. The equivalent English term is the "new rich" or "new money" (in contrast with " old money"; french: vieux riche ). Sociologically, ''nouveau riche'' refers to the person who previously had belonged to a lower social class and economic stratum (rank) within that class; and that the new money, which constitutes their wealth, allowed upward social mobility and provided the
means Means may refer to: * Means LLC, an anti-capitalist media worker cooperative * Means (band), a Christian hardcore band from Regina, Saskatchewan * Means, Kentucky, a town in the US * Means (surname) * Means Johnston Jr. (1916–1989), US Navy adm ...
for conspicuous consumption, the buying of goods and services that
signal In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The '' IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing' ...
membership in an
upper class Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status, usually are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper class is gen ...
. As a pejorative term, ''nouveau riche'' affects distinctions of type, the given stratum within a social class; hence, among the rich people of a social class, ''nouveau riche'' describes the
vulgarity Vulgarity is the quality of being common, coarse, or unrefined. This judgement may refer to language, visual art, social class, or social climbers. John Bayley claims the term can never be self-referential, because to be aware of vulgarity is to ...
and ostentation of the newly rich person who lacks the worldly experience and the system of values of " old money", of inherited wealth, such as the patriciate, the
nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...
, and the
gentry Gentry (from Old French ''genterie'', from ''gentil'', "high-born, noble") are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. Word similar to gentle imple and decentfamilies ''Gentry'', in its widest c ...
.


History

The idea of ''nouveau riche'' dates at least as far back as
ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of Classical Antiquity, classical antiquity ( AD 600), th ...
(). In the 6th century BCE, the poet and aristocrat
Theognis of Megara Theognis of Megara ( grc-gre, Θέογνις ὁ Μεγαρεύς, ''Théognis ho Megareús'') was a Greek lyric poet active in approximately the sixth century BC. The work attributed to him consists of gnomic poetry quite typical of the time, ...
wrote how "in former days, there was a tribe who knew no laws nor manners ... These men are
nobles Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteri ...
, now, the gentlemen of old are now the trash". In the
Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...
, the term ''
novus homo ''Novus homo'' or ''homo novus'' (Latin for 'new man'; ''novi homines'' or ''homines novi'') was the term in ancient Rome for a man who was the first in his family to serve in the Roman Senate or, more specifically, to be elected as consul. Whe ...
'' ("new man") carried similar connotations.


Social status

One can define social status in relation to wealth, and to the
power Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...
granted by the wealth. It has been argued that the upper,
ruling class In sociology, the ruling class of a society is the social class who set and decide the political and economic agenda of society. In Marxist philosophy, the ruling class are the capitalist social class who own the means of production and by exte ...
es have legitimized "... their rule with claims of
status Status (Latin plural: ''statūs''), is a state, condition, or situation, and may refer to: * Status (law) ** City status ** Legal status, in law ** Political status, in international law ** Small entity status, in patent law ** Status confere ...
and
honor Honour (British English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of social teaching and of personal ethos, that manifests itself as a ...
and moral superiority". Ruling classes make claims in defense of the ascribed superiority of wealth inherited through "blood ... and the concept of proper breeding". The ''nouveau riche'' man and woman are juxtaposed against the people of the old money social class; and with trans-generational, inherited wealth, in order to highlight the cultural,
value system In ethics and social sciences, value denotes the degree of importance of something or action, with the aim of determining which actions are best to do or what way is best to live (normative ethics in ethics), or to describe the significance of di ...
and societal differences, between the two social groups within the class. Old Family ties, as traditional claims of status, are not found in the ''nouveaux riches'', which challenges and ultimately redefines social traditions and values such as the institution of
debutantes A debutante, also spelled débutante, ( ; from french: débutante , "female beginner") or deb is a young woman of aristocratic or upper-class family background who has reached maturity and, as a new adult, is presented to society at a formal ...
and their debut to society. As seen through the rise in the number of debutantes, the social value of the debut has since shifted from the "family's elite social standing and long family traditions" to "a symbolic value as an element of upper-class life style". This transition allows for high social standing to be established by the ''nouveau riche'' through the institution of the debut. Social integration of these elite sects is extremely slow and sluggish, which prolongs and strengthens stereotypes. This rate of integration makes it more likely that the ''nouveaux riches'' will "retain identification with the traditional ... group of origin; this is the basis for division between the groups. Furthermore, the isolation that minority ''nouveaux riches'' experience within their own class leads them "to prioritize issues of radical justice, civil liberties, and religious tolerance over pure economic self-interest".


Inter-class stereotypes

Often referred to as ''
parvenu A ''parvenu'' is a person who is a relative newcomer to a high-ranking socioeconomic class. The word is borrowed from the French language; it is the past participle of the verb ''parvenir'' (to reach, to arrive, to manage to do something). Origi ...
'', members of the ''nouveau riche'' are often discriminated against by the "old money" sects of society since they "lack the proper pedigree". These newcomers to economic power are subject to even greater scrutiny from their lack of historical prestige as seen through Dye's comments which reference the new rich as "uncouth" and "uncultured". The behavior of the ''nouveau riche'' is often satirized by American society by "implying that stereotyped, rather than real, behavior patterns are copied". Many people have made claims to the inferiority of those with new money as compared to those with old money. Many have made claims that ''nouveaux riches'' "lack political and cultural sophistication" and others make comparisons saying that the old rich are "more sophisticated than the less cosmopolitan nouveau riche". These assumptions further perpetuate the differences between the two and lead to even further stereotypes and have lasted for well over a century. In the 1920s, Mrs.Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, who herself married into a family that had once been considered ''parvenu'' and lacking in pedigree, protested that "''the nouveau riche''... is making places like Palm Beach no more exclusive than Coney Island. Newport, the last stronghold of the elite, has the moneyed intruder at the gates.... Undesirables are penetrating everywhere". In 18th-century Europe, "Old Money" families attempted to raise themselves above the ''nouveau riches'' by sensitively renovating their ancestral residences to allude to their antiquity. Their evident ties to the families' history could not be rivaled by the new, self-made, class. In the
Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...
the nobility sought this as an advantage over the merchant burghers of Amsterdam and a similar trend arose in the French Court. The same is true of the fashionable
laird Laird () is the owner of a large, long-established Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a baron and above a gentleman. This rank was held only by those lairds holding official recognition in ...
s of seventeenth century Scotland who re-worked buildings like
Thirlestane Castle Thirlestane Castle is a castle set in extensive parklands near Lauder in the Borders of Scotland. The site is aptly named Castle Hill, as it stands upon raised ground. However, the raised land is within Lauderdale, the valley of the Leader Wate ...
,
Glamis Castle Glamis Castle is situated beside the village of Glamis (, ) in Angus, Scotland. It is the home of the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and is open to the public. Glamis Castle has been the home of the Lyon family since the 14th century, thoug ...
and
Drumlanrig Castle Drumlanrig Castle is situated on the Queensberry Estate in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The category A listed castle is the Dumfriesshire home of the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch and Queensberry. It is open to the public at set times. Co ...
to celebrate the lineage of their families.


''Nouveau pauvre''

The term ''nouveau pauvre'' ( French for "new poor") was coined to refer to a person who had once owned wealth, but has now lost all or most of it. This term is generally used to emphasize that the individual was previously part of a higher socioeconomic rank, and that such wealth that provided the means for the acquisition of goods or luxuries is currently unobtainable. These people may or may not actually be poor, but compared to their previous rank, it seems as if they are. Nicholas Monson (grandson of the 9th
Baron Monson Baron Monson (pronounced ''Munson''), of Burton in the County of Lincoln, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 18th century for Sir John Monson, 5th Baronet. The Monson family descends from Thomas Monson, of Carleton, L ...
) and Debra Scott were authors of ''The Nouveaux Pauvres: A Guide to Downward Nobility'' (1984), "a lifestyle manual for poverty-stricken aristocrats" "running an aristocratic lifestyle on a tradesman's budget".To Marry an English Lord: Tales of Wealth and Marriage, Sex and Snobbery, Gail McColl, Carol McD. Wallace, Workman Publishing Co., 2012, p. 352


See also

*
Parvenu A ''parvenu'' is a person who is a relative newcomer to a high-ranking socioeconomic class. The word is borrowed from the French language; it is the past participle of the verb ''parvenir'' (to reach, to arrive, to manage to do something). Origi ...
* Bourgeoisie *
Economic inequality There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably income inequality measured using the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and wealth inequality measured using the distribution of wealth (the amount of ...
*
Essex man Essex man and Mondeo man are stereotypical figures which were popularised in 1990s Britain. The "Essex man" as a political figure is an example of a type of median voter and was used to help explain the electoral successes of Conservative Prime M ...
*
Liberal elite Liberal elite, also referred to as the metropolitan elite or progressive elite, is a stereotype of politically liberal people whose education has traditionally opened the doors to affluence, wealth and power and who form a managerial elite. It is ...
*
New Russian The New Russians (russian: link=no, новые русские ''novye russkie'') were a newly rich business class who made their fortune in the 1990s in post-Soviet Russia. It is perceived as a stereotype, stereotypical caricature. According to ...
* Philistine *
Rags to riches Rags to riches refers to any situation in which a person rises from poverty to wealth, and in some cases from absolute obscurity to heights of fame, fortune and celebrity—sometimes instantly. This is a common archetype in literature and popul ...
*
Snob ''Snob'' is a pejorative term for a person who believes there is a correlation between social status (including physical appearance) and human worth.De Botton, A. (2004), ''Status Anxiety''. London: Hamish Hamilton ''Snob'' also refers to a per ...
* Sudden wealth syndrome * Tuhao * White shoe brigade


References

{{authority control Class discrimination French words and phrases Class-related slurs Social groups Socio-economic mobility Upper class culture Wealth Socioeconomic stereotypes zh:新貴