Agreed. Also, the whole 1980's thing involves a sharp, a very sharp, social/economic split between the Baby Boomers "Generation Jones" types who made it, and those who didn't. The analysis as it stands suggests all members of the "Baby boomers" generation made it to wealth and prosperity and that isn't the case; a hell of a lot of people, who lacked that inclination or the desire or the good fortune to become Yuppies, were seriously fucked over by Thatcher and her ilk. Traditional jobs (of the sort that sustained lives and families) dissappeared to be replaced with unemployment or ill-paid casualised work and whole areas of Britain became a Rust Belt where even if a person had Yuppie inclinations, the infrastructure to nurture them simply wasn't there. A lot of the Yuppie thing depended on good fortune, accident and geography. (Simply put - easier to be a yuppie in Eighties London. Or New York. Manchester? Flint, North Wales or Flint Michigan? No bloody chance).
For every "baby boomer" who made it, one didn't. (It's a bit galling to be accused by younger people of being a greedy Boomer cornering the wealth and being unwilling to share it, when a lot of us are still barely scraping by - I like to correct the misperception where I can!)
So... wondering if the description needs a corrective line or two saying - not EVERY Boomer got to be an affluent retiree!
Edited by AgProv Elderly curmudgeon and awkward person. Professional old fart.
Removed:
- American Psycho. The main character, Patrick Bateman, is the archetypal affluent yuppie. He's rich, works on Wall Street, has a pretty girlfriend, and spends most of his life in trendy restaurants and clubs. However, he's also shallow, unhappy, self-absorbed, and (maybe) a Serial Killer.
According to the trope description, Yuppies are New Money while Preppies are Old Money. Bateman comes from a wealthy family, went to a prep school, attended Harvard and has a cooshy sinecure, with the implication that all of this is due to family connections. So it seems that either Bateman is a preppy and not a Yuppie or the definition of Yuppie needs to be loosened.
Hide / Show Replies
^ Yuppie and Preppy overlap in a lot of areas. That said, you are correct that the book-version of Patrick Bateman is more of the former than the latter.
Also, while we are on the subject, there is presently no page for Preppy even though it too was a common character trope during The '80s. Perhaps the Tropers who were around during the 80s have forgotten it (or maybe there is too much of an overlap with Upper-Class Twit).
Edited by Lawman592
Removed:
This whole paragraph seems to be conflating "yuppie" with "boomer." Yuppies would be too young to be involved in 60s counterculture. Also, related to my early comment, I think there's confusion about whether yuppies necessarily come from middle/working class backgrounds. Donald Trump was often described as the archetypical yuppie, and he was raised rich. I think "preppy" is more of a term applied to privileged people still in school or just out of it, while "yuppie" is anyone in the workforce. Therefore, yuppies can come from any economic background as long as they're a young, successful professional.
Edited by CaptainCrawdad Hide / Show Replies