Does a Catalan bourgeoisie really exist? Or has it already died out? "They went from being company executives a few generations ago to being local representatives of multinationals. This has resulted in a bourgeoisie that, compared to other parts of the country, has been weaker," Carreras said.

Besnet of the first Count Güell and the most emblematic representative of the Catalan industrial haute bourgeoisie, José Felipe Bertran de Caralt, has died in Barcelona at the age of 98. The businessman came to public attention in the 1990s when he was convicted of tax fraud, but at the same time, he was a victim of the corruption network of Judge Lluís Pasqual Estevill, who also ended up convicted of extorting the businessmen he was investigating, including Bertran de Caralt himself.