The new yuppies look familiar, and are not helping society

The New Republic - The New Yuppies
JC Pan

This article explores who is the new generation of the demographic that would have been called "yuppies" in the 1970s and '80s. Yuppies, understood as conspicuous consumers belonging to the upwardly mobile "PMC" (Professional-Managerial Class-- a phrase coined by Ehrenreich) have been on the wane recently, but have the upwardly-mobile, "aspirational", (and perhaps classist) attitudes? This article looks into two books written on the subject (one by Cowen, and other by Currid-Halkett) and sketches some stereotypes of that the new yuppie is like: understated materialism, cultural capital, values-based purchases of products and services, cutting edge adoption of betterment practices.
Here is a brief sketch:
1. cultural signifiers of cultural capital matters. The right media, food, vehicle, etc. for self-improvement.
2. conspicuous consumption is irrelevant in an age of abundance and knock-offs. Instead, what is conspicuous is values, morals, knowledge. This translates into enormous expenditures in knowledge acquisition and education.
3. the "moral consumerism" of the aspirational class ("the heirloom tomato" signifier) obscures the class divisions their spending exacerbates and instead leaves them feeling individually blameless for systematic economic disparities. Cowan analyzes this as "self-satisfaction" in their individualistic pursuits.
4. There is a lack of urgency, or restlessness, in solving societal or environmental problems (complacency). This isn't just an aspirational characteristic; Cowan diagnoses this as a problem with all classes, elite on down to the poor. The upper classes have a desire to maintain the status quo, which is now more segregated than it has been in the past 50 years.

After the character-sketch-amalgamation of the two books, the article offers a choice for the waning PMC: align with the working class or cling to a shrinking elitism. It sorts the Occupy movement and young college-educated Bernie Sanders supporters into the "alignment" tact, and the Democratic party establishment into the "cling".