--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Our culture is ill-equipped to assert the…" description: "\"Our culture is ill-equipped to assert the bourgeois values which would be the salvation of the under-class, because we have lost those values ourselves..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c41/norman-podhoretz-54713_bourgeois_our-culture-is-ill-equipped-to-assert-th_533063.jpg" --- # Our culture is ill-equipped to assert the bourgeois values… ![“Our culture is ill-equipped to assert the bourgeois values which would be the salvation of the under-class, because we have lost those values ourselves.” quote by Norman Podhoretz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c41/norman-podhoretz-54713_bourgeois_our-culture-is-ill-equipped-to-assert-th_533063.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c41/norman-podhoretz-54713_bourgeois_our-culture-is-ill-equipped-to-assert-th_533063.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c41/norman-podhoretz-54713_bourgeois_our-culture-is-ill-equipped-to-assert-th_533063.jpg) > “Our culture is ill-equipped to assert the bourgeois values which would be the salvation of the under-class, because we have lost those values ourselves.” [Norman Podhoretz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-podhoretz/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Society lacks the bourgeois values needed to uplift the lower class because those values have been lost. **In simple terms:** Lost bourgeois values hinder class salvation. Key Takeaway Revive core values to help the underclass. Themes class values social change morality Mood critical thoughtful Type political philosophical When to use this quote - policy making - education reform - community building - activism Key Concepts bourgeoisie cultural decay political theory Questions to Reflect On - Which values can truly aid the underclass? - How restore lost cultural values? A Different Perspective Values may be contested or outdated. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bourgeois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bourgeois/) [Class](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class/) [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Ill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ill/) [Salvation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/salvation/) [Values](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/values/) ## Related quotes > [The evolution of a bourgeoisie is a healthy phenomenon when it grows and prospers thanks to bourgeois values: hard work, honesty, personal responsibility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-applebaum/the-evolution-of-a-bourgeoisie-is-a-healthy-phenomenon-when-it-grows/) [Anne Applebaum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-applebaum/) > [Bourgeois values aren't just for white people. The irony is: Bourgeois values can help minorities get ahead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-wax/bourgeois-values-aren-t-just-for-white-people-the-irony-is-bourgeois/) [Amy Wax](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-wax/) > [People think that the art market is about opportunists and hedge-fund managers getting broken art, but what really happened is that there was a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/liam-gillick/people-think-that-the-art-market-is-about-opportunists-and-hedge-fund/) [Liam Gillick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liam-gillick/) > [I don't hold myself dictated to by what everyone is saying, by the tabloids or popular opinion. I don't like bourgeois values. I say…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-salter/i-don-t-hold-myself-dictated-to-by-what-everyone-is-saying-by-the/) [James Salter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-salter/) > [Michael seems to have lost his values temporarily. He just has to be worked with, disciplined and talked to and given some tender loving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-king/michael-seems-to-have-lost-his-values-temporarily-he-just-has-to-be/) [Don King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-king/) > [“Rising from the debris of our lost values is the new value on the individual. The me generation has given to a me world.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randy-frazee/rising-from-the-debris-of-our-lost-values-is-the-new-value-on-the/) Randy Frazee > [“Every day is a new opportunity to earn the lost values, but not for an apathetic.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-f-moonzajer/every-day-is-a-new-opportunity-to-earn-the-lost-values-but-not-for-an/) [M.F. Moonzajer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-f-moonzajer/) > [I've never lost a friend over work. I come from a small-town environment and I remember my childhood impressions that, if you were a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-nicholson/i-ve-never-lost-a-friend-over-work-i-come-from-a-small-town/) [Jack Nicholson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-nicholson/) > [It is an old and ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way; and we grasp more fiercely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rollo-may/it-is-an-old-and-ironic-habit-of-human-beings-to-run-faster-when-we/) [Rollo May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rollo-may/) > [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/) > [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/) > [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 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/) > [“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 by Norman Podhoretz > [Creativity represents a miraculous coming together of the uninhibited energy of the child with its apparent opposite and enemy, the sense of order imposed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-podhoretz/creativity-represents-a-miraculous-coming-together-of-the-uninhibited/) [Norman Podhoretz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-podhoretz/) > [The fear of blacks has become the dirty little secret of our political culture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-podhoretz/the-fear-of-blacks-has-become-the-dirty-little-secret-of-our/) [Norman Podhoretz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-podhoretz/) > ["World War III, was the Cold War, and the U.S. won it".](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-podhoretz/world-war-iii-was-the-cold-war-and-the-u-s-won-it/) [Norman Podhoretz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-podhoretz/) > [ \[T\]he isolationism of the Left stems from the conviction that America is bad for the rest of the world, whereas the isolationism of the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-podhoretz/t-he-isolationism-of-the-left-stems-from-the-conviction-that-america/) [Norman Podhoretz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-podhoretz/) > [ The role of Jews who write in both the Jewish and \[American\] general press is to defend Israel. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-podhoretz/the-role-of-jews-who-write-in-both-the-jewish-and-american-general/) [Norman Podhoretz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-podhoretz/) [Explore all 6 Norman Podhoretz quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-podhoretz/) ## 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 > [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": "Our culture is ill-equipped to assert the bourgeois values which would be the salvation of the under-class, because we have lost those values ourselves.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Norman Podhoretz" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-podhoretz/our-culture-is-ill-equipped-to-assert-the-bourgeois-values-which/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Bourgeois" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-podhoretz/our-culture-is-ill-equipped-to-assert-the-bourgeois-values-which/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c41/norman-podhoretz-54713_bourgeois_our-culture-is-ill-equipped-to-assert-th_533063.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c41/norman-podhoretz-54713_bourgeois_our-culture-is-ill-equipped-to-assert-th_533063.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c41/norman-podhoretz-54713_bourgeois_our-culture-is-ill-equipped-to-assert-th_533063.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Our culture is ill-equipped to assert the bourgeois values which would be the salvation of the under-class…” — Norman Podhoretz", "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": "Norman Podhoretz", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-podhoretz/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Our culture is ill-equipped to assert...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-podhoretz/our-culture-is-ill-equipped-to-assert-the-bourgeois-values-which/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-podhoretz/our-culture-is-ill-equipped-to-assert-the-bourgeois-values-which/#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 } } ] } ```