What is a "yuppie" (Chicago, Western Springs: middle-class, apartments, condos)

[moving_time]

I see reference to this all the time in Chicago and some other big city boards. I know the term 'yuppie" stands for something like young upwardly-mobile professional, but is that all one means by it? For example, if someone says "yuppies are moving to x area en mass", would that just mean that a bunch of 20-30something people who work in good paying white collar jobs are showing up? Sometimes it seems to mean more than that - there's more of a specific attitude meant, but I can't quite narrow it down. Also, what are "yuppie stores/restaurants/bars/etc? Like when someone says "yuppie stores are springing up like weeds there"

Sorry if this is controversial -I'm just curious about the nuances of the term (that's what a BA in sociology and linguistics will get you!)

[aragx6]

A yuppie by definition is a young, urban professional, but you're right that it often appears to have a negative connotation.

If we're engaging in stereotypes, a yuppie: a. Likes restaurants where they can see and be seen, even if they're paying out the nose for it. b. Doesn't care too much about the roots of a neighborhood or the diversity of culture. They prefer dog apparel boutiques and bistro cafes to hot dog stands and locally owned hardware stores.

[Lookout Kid]

Yuppie = Young Urban Professional or Young Upwardly moblie Professional. It tends to describe a class of people who are socially liberal and fiscally conservative, and the term came into wide use in the early 1980s. At that time, "yuppie culture" seemed focused on polo shirts, BMWs, and raquet sports.

The term "yuppie" in Chicago has become widely co-opted by political forces opposed to gentrification. It is a divisive tool used to create class warfare, and has come to describe any white or asian person who went to college and has a professional job. When people in Pilsen and Humboldt Park complain about the "yuppies" moving in to their neighborhood, they are only considering two factors: race and income.

Many people in this "yuppie" category now try to separate themselves from yuppie-ism by clinging to BoBo culture (or Bohemain Bourgeois culture). This describes a person who has one foot firmly planted in their middle-class upbringing and the other foot in bohemian culture. The term comes from the David Brooks book Bobos in Paradise. Bobos are Yuppies in self-denial. They clearly have all of the education and sensibilities of Yuppies, but reject their middle or upper-middle class status in the name of "authenticity". Instead of buying into the conformity of the middle-class that spawned them, Bobos search out "real" music, "real" food, and "real" experience. I am Bobo, I have realized over the years.

[cohdane]

My explanation of the negative connotation of yuppie:

People who have enough disposable income to spend it on lots of things they don't need. Hence, $4 coffee, dog boutiques, BMW's, trendy restaurants, etc.

Non-yuppies dislike them for a few reasons: 1. Jealousy, 2. Some of that stuff is truly wasteful, 3. Yuppies can be fairly snobbish in their own right, (Like many of them would never shop at Sears, even though they have perfectly good stuff there, "foodies" won't consider a restaurant who's menus are plastic laminated, etc.) 4. Yuppies can be self-centered when it comes to larger neighborhood issues. They want a Starbucks, no matter who it puts out of business-- Mom&Pop shop, storefront church, currency exchange, clinic, etc.

The list goes on, but that's probably the heart of it.

When you add in that the disposable income allows yuppies to afford condos and apartments that by market forces push lower-income folks out to farther away or rougher neighborhoods, you can see where the "gentrification" resentment comes from.

On the other hand, yuppies need a place to live and want to be in cities near their jobs. And gentrification occasionally restores buildings and neighborhoods that would otherwise become increasingly derelict.

Commence two-way class tensions and name-calling.

[Irishtom29]

A yuppie is a white-collar who isn't a "regular guy". There are many white-collar regular guys by the way.

[Humboldt1]

I am a bobo with a twist. I have the education and money of a yuppie but come from a gentrified farm background. My dad is not a gentleman farmer (he works the land with his employees). I also worked on the farm growing up and have worked manual labor jobs in the past (1 year in construction, 1 year for neighboring farm).

I like being the big fish in a small pond and feel more comfortable around those who are poor and don't have the time to try to impress me with their material posessions.

Perhaps this is why I have lived in Humboldt Park in a basement apartment that is inferior to the units of my renters.

[Irishtom29]

I thought the bourgeois Bohemians moved out to Riverside and Western Springs.

[Lookout Kid]

I think there are more Bobos than Yuppies in urban areas these days. And Bobos probably don't come off as "regular guys", though a lot of this is based on personality. Actually, a branch of Bobo-ism is completely in love with the working class (i.e. Wilco listeners who wax nostalgic about Woody Guthrie), so they pretend to be regular guys by hanging out in faux dive bars. Once again, it's this search for authenticity in our plastic American culture.

I love Wilco, by the way and have been guilty of this in the past.

[Irishtom29]

Yeah, Lookout, my daughter and son in law are BoBo-"hipster" types. They make very good dough but drive a 2001 Focus and have a modest condo in an old Italian-Polish neighborhood on the near West Side.

They get along with everybody from yuppie types to boilermakers. Active and interesting conversationalists and economic as well as social liberals. Good kids.

[Ron.]

Go to Lakeview, sit on a bench and just look at all the folks walking by.
That should answer your question. Pay close attention to any Starbucks and "designer" $900 babystrollers. Those are red flags!

Originally Posted by moving_time

I see reference to this all the time in Chicago and some other big city boards. I know the term 'yuppie" stands for something like young upwardly-mobile professional, but is that all one means by it? For example, if someone says "yuppies are moving to x area en mass", would that just mean that a bunch of 20-30something people who work in good paying white collar jobs are showing up? Sometimes it seems to mean more than that - there's more of a specific attitude meant, but I can't quite narrow it down. Also, what are "yuppie stores/restaurants/bars/etc? Like when someone says "yuppie stores are springing up like weeds there"

Sorry if this is controversial -I'm just curious about the nuances of the term (that's what a BA in sociology and linguistics will get you!)