Lesson50 On the Origin of Middle Class
The rise of the merchant class was intimately linked with the growth of towns and trade; that is to say that they were linked with the most dynamic element in medieval European civilization and one hostile to its feudal setting. It was an element which not only produced new wealth but new institutions. Feudal institutions did not work easily in a society of tradesmen and craftsmen for which they had no adequate theoretical place. Yet feudal lords sought the support of towns against kings and kings sought the support of townsmen and their wealth against overmighty subjects. They gave towns charters and privileges. The walls which surrounded the medieval city were often the symbol and guarantee of its immunity. #The air of a town makes you free# said a German proverb. The communes and within them the guilds were associations of free men for a long time isolated in a world unfree. The burgher - the bourgeois, the dweller in bourg or borough - was a man who stood up for himself in a universe of dependence.This salient characteristic of the new middle class is echoed today by the former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, when she refers to the danger posed by a "nanny state" in its propensity to encourage dependency among the population.

medieval 中世纪的
feudal 封建制度的
overmighty 有势力过于强大的
guild (中世纪的)行会
burgher 公民；市民
bourgeois 资产阶级
bourg 市镇
borough 自治的市镇
salient 突出的
nanny state 保姆国家
propensity 倾向

论中产阶级的起源
商人阶层的出现与市镇和贸易的发展紧密相关；也就是说他们与中世纪欧洲文明中最有活力的因素和反对其所处的封建环境的因素有关联。这种因素不仅产生新的财富，而且产生新的制度。封建制度在一个商人和手工业社会中很难发挥作用，因为它们在理论上就没有合适的位置。然而封建领主寻求市镇的支持来反对国王，国王则寻求市民和他们的财富的支持以对抗这些势力强大的臣民。他们给予市镇特许状和特权。环绕中世纪城市的城墙通常是市镇豁免权的象征和保证。一条德国谚语说“市镇里的空气让你自由”。市镇和自治体里的行会是长时期孤立于一个不自由的世界里的自由人的协会组织。商人&&资产阶级，自治城镇的居民&&是在一个无独立的世界里捍卫自己利益的人。
时至今日，前英国首相玛格丽特•撒切尔在提到“保姆国家”倾向于鼓励人们的依赖性而带来的危险时，重新提到了这一新中产阶级的突出特征。