Role of the Yuppie

http://eightiesclub.tripod.com/id295.htm

"The cast of thirtysomething, a hit TV show at the heart of yuppie culture in the Eighties."

This site is dedicated to all things 80's and this particular blog post lists in detail the many ways in which you could have been identified as a Yuppie during the 1980's.

• "Were L.A. Law and thirtysomething two of your favorite television shows?"
• "Did you own a Beemer (BMW) or a Mercedes -- or want to?"
• "Did you wear Armani trousers or power suits, write with a Cross pen, carry a Gucci briefcase, and talk about the "bottom line?""
• "Did you prefer wine over beer, pasta over Big Macs, designer ice cream (or yogurt) over the supermarket brands?"
• "If you answered yes to some or all of the above, made $40,000 or more a year in the 1980s, and were a baby boomer (born between 1946 and 1964), chances are you were a yuppie, even though you might not have admitted it."

It states when the term Yuppie was first used (Chicago Tribune, 1983) and how it was used during the presidential campaign of 1984 because the Democratic nomination Gary Hart was considered to be an ideal for the "fiscally conservative but socially liberal yuppie voter."

Newsweek declared that 1984 was the year of the Yuppie, a Yuppie being someone who can be said to represent "Reagan's America."

Fredric Jameson: "a new petit bourgeoisie [whose] cultural practices and values . . . have articulated a useful dominant ideological and cultural paradigm"

It goes on to explain how the Yuppies and their pursuit of the American Dream did not last for long because of the stock market crash in October '87. The fact that they were being joked about and the term was now a derogatory term goes to show that Yuppies had become a part of American Culture.

"the difference between a pigeon and a yuppie stockbroker was that the pigeon could still make a deposit on a new Mercedes."

It goes on to explain how the yuppie then sparked a specific type of decor.

"postmodern art, tile bathrooms, wood floors, bare brick walls, pastel colors, glass bricks, potted plants and stainless steel Sub-Zero refrigerators were in vogue."

The following site: http://yuppiedecor.com/ is a website by a couple who would have been classed as Yuppies and they make custom pieces which very much embody the personality of them, but possibly in a more modern framework.

In addition the blog site talks about yuppie literature* including the book we have to read, Bret Easton Ellis's book, Less than Zero. It also says that New Age ("yuppie Musak") music became more prominent due to yuppie consumers. New Age music being a fusion of jazz, impressionist, acoustic and classical styles.

"It's leading purveyor, Windham Hill grossed $25 million in 1985 sales, primarily to young, white professionals."

*"Their work endures as a window into the yuppie phenomenon."