comprador

views updated May 09 2018

comprador A Portuguese term, literally ‘buyer’, used to denote the main indigenous agent in trading-houses on the China coast. By extension, ‘comprador bourgeoisie’ is a term used for a social class deemed to be compliant with foreign interests, and uninterested in developing the national economy. It is usually contrasted with the class of the ‘national bourgeoisie’ which is considered to have this potential.