ABSTRACT
This chapter provide an intellectual history of bourgeois ideology, and demonstrates its power by indicating its influence over American Christianity. Bourgeois ideology is premised on naturalistic fallacy, arguing that the social hierarchy of capitalism is "natural" and therefore good and right. It is a doctrine of class bias, a discriminatory evaluation that derogates and disadvantages poor. The proper middle-class folks with solid values, according to Thomas Malthus, are able to exercise "moral restraint". A key difference between the poor and the rich is morality. Indeed, the word "population" for Malthus seems to be euphemism for sex. Over the last thirty years or so, bourgeois ideology has incorporated a perverse reading of an old fable. In this revisionist fairy tale, Robin Hood is the enemy of all that is good and right. The Compassionate Conservatism of 1990s featured religious writers such as Marvin Olasky, who focused on the sinful roots of long-term poverty, arguing that it comes from an inner corruption.
