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Petit-bourgeoisie (or petty bourgeois through folk etymology) is a French term that originally referred to the members of the lower middle social-classes in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

Starting from the mid-19th century, the term was used by Karl Marx and Marxist theorists to refer to a social class that included shop-keepers and professionals. Though distinct from the ordinary working class and the lumpenproletariat, who rely entirely on the sale of their labor-power for survival, the petty is different from the haute bourgeoisie, or capitalist class, who own the means of production and buy the labor-power of others to work it. Though the petty bourgeois do buy the labor power of others, in contrast to the bourgeoisie they typically work alongside their own employees; and although they generally own their own businesses, they do not own a controlling share of the means of production. In modern usage petite bourgeoisie, a class that lies between the workingmen and the capitalists, is often used to refer to the to consumption habits and tastes of the middle class. However, Marxian terminology relates the petite bourgeoisie to its relationship to the means of production and work, not to tastes, habits of consumption, or lifestyle.

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