The Bourgeois of the social democracy is flawed in two ways: he is cautious, very conservative and inward-looking; and he is totally without curiosity about, and hence feels no responsibility for anyone outside the tiny collection of relatives and friends who inhabit his little biospheric 'Bubble'.

The former characteristic is a flaw which he shares with the religious fundamentalist. Setting aside the truism that the fundamentalists are rapacious psychopaths and paedophiles, to give credit where it is due, the fundamentalist is superior in that he feels some responsibilty for his neighbours and for people in the wider world even if it is only to exploit and enslave them.

Ironically, the burgeoning of the electronic media has has seen the strengthening of the Bourgeois in society by allowing him to seal himself more tightly within his bubble. He uses the e-mail. phone and text message as an excuse NOT to communicate face to face with his neighbour. He is increasingly closed and complacent and never has to come out of his bubble.

The contemporary burgeois is as distant from a friend in the same city as he is from a friend living on the other side of the planet.