---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: But modern bourgeois private property is…"
description: "\"“But modern bourgeois private property is the final and most complete expression of the system of producing and appropriating products, that is based o..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/efd/frederick-engels-karl-marx-238_bourgeois_but-modern-bourgeois-private-property-is_541395.jpg"
---

#  But modern bourgeois private property is the final and…

![“But modern bourgeois private property is the final and most complete expression of the system of producing and appropriating products, that is based on class antagonisms, on the exploitation of the many by the few.” quote by Frederick Engels Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/efd/frederick-engels-karl-marx-238_bourgeois_but-modern-bourgeois-private-property-is_541395.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/efd/frederick-engels-karl-marx-238_bourgeois_but-modern-bourgeois-private-property-is_541395.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/efd/frederick-engels-karl-marx-238_bourgeois_but-modern-bourgeois-private-property-is_541395.jpg)

> ““But modern bourgeois private property is the final and most complete expression of the system of producing and appropriating products, that is based on class antagonisms, on the exploitation of the many by the few.””

[Frederick Engels Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-engels-karl-marx/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

The quote critiques private property as the ultimate expression of class exploitation, where a few benefit at the expense of many.

**In simple terms:** Private property embodies class conflict and exploitation.

Key Takeaway

Recognize how ownership structures can create inequality.

Themes

economics class struggle property

Mood

critical analytical

Type

theoretical political

When to use this quote

- political theory
- labor movements
- academic study

Key Concepts

capitalism exploitation class theory

Questions to Reflect On

- What alternatives to private property could reduce exploitation?
- How do modern economies reflect this critique?

A Different Perspective

The analysis may oversimplify the varied functions of property in different societies.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Bourgeois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bourgeois/) [Bourgeois Private](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bourgeois-private-4527082/) [Class Antagonisms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class-antagonisms-573345/) [Exploitation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exploitation/) [Modern Bourgeois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern-bourgeois-573343/) [Private property](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/private-property/)

## Related quotes

> [“The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with class antagonisms. It has but established…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/the-modern-bourgeois-society-that-has-sprouted-from-the-ruins-of/)

[Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/)

> [Nietzsche said the newspaper had replaced the prayer in the life of the modern bourgeois , meaning that the busy, the cheap, the ephemeral,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-bloom/nietzsche-said-the-newspaper-had-replaced-the-prayer-in-the-life-of/)

[Allan Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-bloom/)

> [In place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association in which the free development of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/in-place-of-the-old-bourgeois-society-with-its-classes-and-class/)

[Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/)

> [Modern bourgeois society with its relations of production, of exchange, and of property, a society that has conjured up such gigantic means of production…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/modern-bourgeois-society-with-its-relations-of-production-of-exchange/)

[Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/)

> [In the women's world, as well as in the men's world, there exists the class law and the class struggle, and it appears as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clara-zetkin/in-the-women-s-world-as-well-as-in-the-men-s-world-there-exists-the/)

[Clara Zetkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clara-zetkin/)

> [“Second we find in our prerevolutionary society definite and indeed very bitter class antagonisms, though these antagonisms seem rather more complicated than the cruder…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brinton-crane/second-we-find-in-our-prerevolutionary-society-definite-and-indeed/)

[Brinton Crane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brinton-crane/)

> [“struggle in place of the old ones. Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie, possesses, however, this distinctive feature: it has simplified the class…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-engels/struggle-in-place-of-the-old-ones-our-epoch-the-epoch-of-the/)

[Friedrich Engels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-engels/)

> [“Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie, possesses, however, this distinct feature: it has simplified class antagonisms. Society as a whole is more and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/our-epoch-the-epoch-of-the-bourgeoisie-possesses-however-this/)

[Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/)

> [Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie, posses however, this distinctive feature; it has simplified the class antagonisms. Society as a whole is more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/our-epoch-the-epoch-of-the-bourgeoisie-posses-however-this/)

[Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/)

> [The function of a bourgeois democracy is to secure the consent of the masses to their own exploitation and oppression.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tariq-ali/the-function-of-a-bourgeois-democracy-is-to-secure-the-consent-of-the/)

[Tariq Ali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tariq-ali/)

> [I think a decent society should protect rights to private property within limits, but not concentrations of private power that infringe on the freedom…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/i-think-a-decent-society-should-protect-rights-to-private-property/)

[Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/)

> [The enmity of such a party towards Socialism does not mean that the members are only prejudiced against it because they do not know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-radek/the-enmity-of-such-a-party-towards-socialism-does-not-mean-that-the/)

[Karl Radek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-radek/)

> [“Like symbolism, decadence puts forth the idea that the function of literature is to evoke impressions and 'correspondences', rather than to realistically depict the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/asti-hustvedt/like-symbolism-decadence-puts-forth-the-idea-that-the-function-of/)

[Asti Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/asti-hustvedt/)

> [With almost no exceptions, art by men is much more expensive than art by women. Even great women artists, like Louise Bourgeois and Lee…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siri-hustvedt/with-almost-no-exceptions-art-by-men-is-much-more-expensive-than-art/)

[Siri Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siri-hustvedt/)

> [“Economists have a singular method of procedure. There are only two kinds of institutions for them, artificial and natural. The institutions of feudalism are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/economists-have-a-singular-method-of-procedure-there-are-only-two/)

[Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/)

## More Bourgeois quotes

> [“Economists have a singular method of procedure. There are only two kinds of institutions for them, artificial and natural. The institutions of feudalism are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/economists-have-a-singular-method-of-procedure-there-are-only-two/)

[Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/)

> [“Like symbolism, decadence puts forth the idea that the function of literature is to evoke impressions and 'correspondences', rather than to realistically depict the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/asti-hustvedt/like-symbolism-decadence-puts-forth-the-idea-that-the-function-of/)

[Asti Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/asti-hustvedt/)

> [The enmity of such a party towards Socialism does not mean that the members are only prejudiced against it because they do not know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-radek/the-enmity-of-such-a-party-towards-socialism-does-not-mean-that-the/)

[Karl Radek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-radek/)

> [With almost no exceptions, art by men is much more expensive than art by women. Even great women artists, like Louise Bourgeois and Lee…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siri-hustvedt/with-almost-no-exceptions-art-by-men-is-much-more-expensive-than-art/)

[Siri Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siri-hustvedt/)

> [The bourgeois thinkers of the eighteenth century thus turned Aristotle's formula on its head: satisfactions which the Greek philosopher had identified with leisure were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/the-bourgeois-thinkers-of-the-eighteenth-century-thus-turned/)

[Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/)

> [Where there is no danger of overt action there is rarely any interference with freedom. That is why there has so often been amazing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-lippmann/where-there-is-no-danger-of-overt-action-there-is-rarely-any/)

[Walter Lippmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-lippmann/)

> [Advancing bourgeois society liquidates memory, time, recollection as irrational leftovers of the past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-adorno/advancing-bourgeois-society-liquidates-memory-time-recollection-as/)

[Theodor Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-adorno/)

> [ Avant-garde theatre, with its distrust of the individual (that bourgeois invention), tends to go beyond \[character\] and the psychological approach in search of a… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrice-pavis/avant-garde-theatre-with-its-distrust-of-the-individual-that/)

[Patrice Pavis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrice-pavis/)

> [One's existence should be in two parts: one should live like a bourgeois and think like a demigod.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/one-s-existence-should-be-in-two-parts-one-should-live-like-a/)

[Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/)

> [I think of myself as being a bit of a wimp deep down - a bourgeois wimp - and I'm fighting that. I think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-mirren/i-think-of-myself-as-being-a-bit-of-a-wimp-deep-down-a-bourgeois-wimp/)

[Helen Mirren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-mirren/)

> [Conformity may not always reign in the prosperous bourgeois suburb, but it ultimately always governs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-kronenberger/conformity-may-not-always-reign-in-the-prosperous-bourgeois-suburb/)

[Louis Kronenberger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-kronenberger/)

> [We can say farewell to 10 years of bourgeois rule... now we have the opportunity to change Denmark.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helle-thorning-schmidt/we-can-say-farewell-to-10-years-of-bourgeois-rule-now-we-have-the/)

[Helle Thorning-Schmidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helle-thorning-schmidt/)

> [In a higher phase of communist society... only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be fully left behind and society inscribe on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/in-a-higher-phase-of-communist-society-only-then-can-the-narrow/)

[Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/)

> [For what is the program of the bourgeois parties? A bad poem on springtime, filled to bursting with metaphors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/for-what-is-the-program-of-the-bourgeois-parties-a-bad-poem-on/)

[Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/)

> [What have we achieved since the end of the Second World War? We have allowed petty, bourgeois regimes in which everything is average, mediocre.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tahar-ben-jelloun/what-have-we-achieved-since-the-end-of-the-second-world-war-we-have/)

[Tahar Ben Jelloun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tahar-ben-jelloun/)

[Browse all 304 Bourgeois quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bourgeois/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“But modern bourgeois private property is the final and most complete expression of the system of producing and appropriating products, that is based on class antagonisms, on the exploitation of the many by the few.”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Frederick Engels Karl Marx"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-engels-karl-marx/but-modern-bourgeois-private-property-is-the-final-and-most-complete/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Bourgeois"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-engels-karl-marx/but-modern-bourgeois-private-property-is-the-final-and-most-complete/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/efd/frederick-engels-karl-marx-238_bourgeois_but-modern-bourgeois-private-property-is_541395.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/efd/frederick-engels-karl-marx-238_bourgeois_but-modern-bourgeois-private-property-is_541395.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/efd/frederick-engels-karl-marx-238_bourgeois_but-modern-bourgeois-private-property-is_541395.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“But modern bourgeois private property is the final and most complete expression of the system of producing…” — Frederick Engels Karl Marx",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Frederick Engels Karl Marx",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-engels-karl-marx/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“But modern bourgeois private property is...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-engels-karl-marx/but-modern-bourgeois-private-property-is-the-final-and-most-complete/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-engels-karl-marx/but-modern-bourgeois-private-property-is-the-final-and-most-complete/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
