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*'']'', the ] novel and ] film adaptation, follows "a disenchanted yuppie ... numbed by the sterile ] of modern life."<ref name="Brook">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/03/99/tom_brook/506620.stml|title=Showdown at the Fight Club|author=Tom Brook|publisher=]|date=] ]|accessdate = 2007-04-28}}</ref> *'']'', the ] novel and ] film adaptation, follows "a disenchanted yuppie ... numbed by the sterile ] of modern life."<ref name="Brook">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/03/99/tom_brook/506620.stml|title=Showdown at the Fight Club|author=Tom Brook|publisher=]|date=] ]|accessdate = 2007-04-28}}</ref>
*'']'' by ]<ref name="Yuppie Lit"/> describes a later (early 1990s) evolution of the Yuppie, in which the upper tier made considerably more than the lower, supporting tier, the "slaves" of the title, who were trapped by rents and insufficient salaries into a struggle merely to stay afloat and in Manhattan *'']'' by ]<ref name="Yuppie Lit"/> describes a later (early 1990s) evolution of the Yuppie, in which the upper tier made considerably more than the lower, supporting tier, the "slaves" of the title, who were trapped by rents and insufficient salaries into a struggle merely to stay afloat and in Manhattan
*'']'', the ] ] novel and ] film about yuppie serial killer ].<ref></ref><ref></ref><ref></ref><ref></ref><ref></ref><ref>[http://web.goddard.edu/pitkin/2007_spring/ThePenIsMightier.htm Goddard College Pitkin Review:
"The Pen is Mightier: Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho"]</ref><ref></ref>
*'']'', U.S. TV series, seen as a representation of "yuppie ]"<ref>{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1175/is_n10_v22/ai_6652864|title=thirtysomethingtherapy: the hit TV show may be filled with "yuppie angst," but therapists are using it to help people|author=Patricia Hersch|publisher=]|date=October 1988|accessdate = 2007-04-28}}</ref> *'']'', U.S. TV series, seen as a representation of "yuppie ]"<ref>{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1175/is_n10_v22/ai_6652864|title=thirtysomethingtherapy: the hit TV show may be filled with "yuppie angst," but therapists are using it to help people|author=Patricia Hersch|publisher=]|date=October 1988|accessdate = 2007-04-28}}</ref>
*'']'', the 1987 film about stock traders, has been described as "encapsulation of 80s yuppie greed culture", particularly ]'s naive 20-something character.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=109998|title=Wall Street Review|publisher=] (UK)}}</ref> *'']'', the 1987 film about stock traders, has been described as "encapsulation of 80s yuppie greed culture", particularly ]'s naive 20-something character.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=109998|title=Wall Street Review|publisher=] (UK)}}</ref>

Revision as of 03:00, 15 November 2007

Yuppies (young urban professionals, or less commonly young upwardly-mobile professionals) is a market segment whose consumers are characterized as self-reliant, financially secure individualists. Since the late 1980s, the phrase affluent professionals has been used as a synonym, stripped of negative associations with the once-homogenous market.

History

Although the term yuppies had not appeared until the early 1980s, there was discussion about young upwardly mobile professionals as early as 1968.

Critics believe that the demand for "instant executives" has led some young climbers to confuse change with growth. One New York consultant comments, "Many executives in their 20's and 30's have been so busy job-hopping that they've never developed their skills. They're apt to suffer a sudden loss of career impetus and go into a power stall."

Joseph Epstein is sometimes credited for coining the term in 1982; however, an early printed appearance of the word is in a May 1980 Chicago magazine article by Dan Rottenberg. In 1983, the term gained currency in United States when syndicated newspaper columnist Bob Greene published a story about the former radical leader of Youth International Party, Jerry Rubin, whose members were called yippies. The proliferation of the word was effected by the publication of The Yuppie Handbook in January 1983, followed by Senator Gary Hart's 1984 candidacy as a "yuppie candidate" for President of the United States. The term was then used to describe a political demographic group of socially liberal but fiscally conservative voters favoring his candidacy. Newsweek magazine declared 1984 "The Year of the Yuppie", characterizing the salary range, occupations, and politics of yuppies as "demographically hazy."

In a 1985 issue of The Wall Street Journal, Theressa Kersten at SRI International described a "yuppie backlash" by people who fit the demographic profile yet express resentment of the label: "You're talking about a class of people who put off having families so they can make payments on the BMWs ... To be a Yuppie is to be a loathsome undesirable creature". Leo Shapiro, a market researcher in Chicago, responded, "Stereotyping always winds up being derogatory. It doesn't matter whether you are trying to advertise to farmers, Hispanics or Yuppies, no one likes to be neatly lumped into some group".

Later, the word lost its political connotations and, particularly after the 1987 stock market crash, gained the negative socio-economic connotations it enjoys today. By 1991, TIME proclaimed the death of the Yuppie in a mock obituary. Yet new subspecies of yuppies seem to emerge time and again such as the quixotic NyLon, decribed as "a trans-Atlantic commuter, usually in financial services, consulting, fashion, or media with lots of frequent-flier miles and a tri-band cell phone".

Notable cultural depictions of yuppies

Related terms

  • Scuppie is a Socially Conscious Upwardly-Mobile Person
  • Buppie is a black urban professional.
  • Yuppification often replaces the word gentrification; it is the act of making something, someone, or someplace appealing and thus marketable to yuppie tastes.
  • DINKs (also DINKY in the UK) is an acronym is for Dual Income, No Kids ; at least one authority considers this to be synonymous with "yuppie".
  • Yuppie Flu was a sometimes derisive, and inaccurate, term applied to chronic fatigue syndrome, before its medical legitimation.
  • Reporter David Brooks characterized yuppies as bourgeois bohemians, or Bobos, in his book Bobos in Paradise, a.k.a. Trustifarians.
  • Guppie is a gay urban professional.

See also

References

  1. Algeo, John (1991). Fifty Years Among the New Words: A Dictionary of Neologisms. Cambridge University Press. pp. p. 220. ISBN 0-521-413-77X. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  2. ^ Burnett, John. "Profiling the Yuppies". Journal of Advertising Research. 26 (2): 27–35. ISSN 0021-8499. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  3. "Marketers Watch New Yuppie Strains". Management Review. 77 (7): 10. ISSN 0021-8499.
  4. Kessler, Felix. "Executive Promotion Path: Fast Track for Young Managers". Management Review. 57 (3): 25. ISSN 0025-1895.
  5. Ayto, John (2006). Movers And Shakers: A Chronology of Words That Shaped Our Age. Oxford University Press. pp. p. 128. ISBN 0-198-614-527. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  6. Dan Rottenberg (May 1980). "About that urban renaissance.... there'll be a slight delay". Chicago Magazine. p. 154ff. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. Budd, Leslie (1992). Global Finance and Urban Living: A Study of Metropolitan Change. Routledge. pp. p. 316. ISBN 0-415-070-97X. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  8. Moore, Jonathan (1986). Campaign for President: The Managers Look at '84. Praeger/Greenwood. p. 123. ISBN 0-865-691-320.
  9. Shapiro, Walter (1991). "The Birth and -- Maybe -- Death of Yuppiedom". Retrieved 2007-04-28.
  10. Will Lee (28 April 2000). "Things that Make You Go Hmmm..." Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2007-04-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ R.Z. Sheppard (June 24 2001). "Yuppie Lit: Publicize or Perish". TIME magazine. Retrieved 2007-04-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. Mary Ellen Mark (August 1996). "Jay Watch". Elle magazine UK. Retrieved 2007-04-28.
  13. Tom Brook (5 November 1999). "Showdown at the Fight Club". BBC. Retrieved 2007-04-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. American Psycho: a double portrait of serial yuppie Patrick Bateman
  15. Amazon.com: American Psycho
  16. Arizona Daily Wildcat: 'American Psycho' ties yuppie greed to serial killing
  17. George Mason University: Into the Wilds of an American Psycho's Identity: Parallels between Into the Wild & American Psycho
  18. Filmmaker Magazine: "Die Yuppie Scum!"
  19. [http://web.goddard.edu/pitkin/2007_spring/ThePenIsMightier.htm Goddard College Pitkin Review: "The Pen is Mightier: Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho"]
  20. Entertainment Weekly: Book News: "American Psychodrama"
  21. Patricia Hersch (October 1988). "thirtysomethingtherapy: the hit TV show may be filled with "yuppie angst," but therapists are using it to help people". Psychology Today. Retrieved 2007-04-28.
  22. "Wall Street Review". Channel 4 (UK).
  23. Tom VanRiper. “Going Green Cuts Profits”. The New York Daily News, 2005-4-22. Retrieved on 2008-11-11
  24. ^ Ayto 2006, p. 225.
  25. Algeo 1991, p. 228.
  26. The American Heritage Abbreviations Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Reference Books. 2002. p. p. 89. ISBN 0-618-249-524. {{cite book}}: |page= has extra text (help)
  27. Dale, Rodney. Wordsworth Dictionary of Abbreviations & Acronyms. pp. p. 44. ISBN 1-853-263-850. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  28. The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories. Merriam-Webster. 1991. p. p. 141. ISBN 0-877-796-033. {{cite book}}: |page= has extra text (help)
  29. Packhard, Randall M. (2004). Emerging Illnesses and Society: Negotiating the Public Health Agenda. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. p. 156. ISBN 0-801-879-426. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

External links

  • Yuppies entry in the St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture
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