What is the semantics meaning of 'object'?

[Adam]

class FooBar(object):
    def __init__(self):
        ...

Inheritance usually takes a class name to indicate which class is the 'parent' class. However, in the previous example, from a django book, the class actually takes an 'object' like parameter, doesn't it? What is the semantics meaning of such kind of notation?

Thanks,
/Adam