Bildungsbürgertum

thumb|The class defined itself more on the basis of education than material possessions and thus great emphasis was laid upon the education of children.

Bildungsbürgertum (German: [ˈbɪldʊŋsˌbʏʁɡɐtuːm], "cultured / educated middle class") was a social class that emerged in mid-18th-century Germany as the educated social stratum of the bourgeoisie. It was a cultural elite that had received an education based on the values of idealism and classical studies and which steered public opinion in art and patterns of behaviour. The majority of its members were Protestant and employed in the upper civil service and free professions such as law, journalism and the arts. Despite its influence, the never exceeded more than about one percent of the population.