ABSTRACT
In the twenty years that lay between the Wealth of Nations and Germain Garnier’s observations, a radical change occurred in Western culture through the two great revolutions that dominate the end of the 18th century and the first decades of the 19th. One was French revolution, which saw the bourgeoisie prevailing over the aristocracy. In economic terms, it meant that investment and productive consumption prevailed over rent and waste. This was the change so eagerly invoked by Smith. However, the success of the bourgeoisie broke the solidarity among the productive classes. By then, the proletariat was no longer perceived by the new dominant class as an ally, but as an adversary.
