Nouveau riche (
French: 'new rich' ) is a term, usually derogatory, to describe whose
wealth has been acquired within their own generation, rather than by familial
inheritance. The equivalent English term is the
new rich or
new money (in contrast with "
old money"). Sociologically,
nouveau riche refers to the man or woman who previously had belonged to a lower
social class and economic
stratum (rank) within that class; and that the new money—which constitutes his or her wealth—allowed upward
social mobility and provided the
means for
conspicuous consumption, the buying of goods and services that
signal membership in an upper class. As a pejorative term,
nouveau riche effects distinctions of type, the given
stratum within a social class; hence, among the rich people of a social class,
nouveau riche describes the
vulgarity and ostentation of the new-rich man and woman who lack the worldly experience and the system of values of old money, of inherited wealth, such as the
patriciate, the
nobility and the
gentry.
