bobos

1047 Words3 Pages

It was the New York Times columnist David Brooks who coined the term “bobo” a combination of “bourgeois” and “bohemian” in his 2000 book, Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class And How They Got There. According to Brooks, bobos were born out of a crossbreeding between a 1960’s social liberalism and the me-focused have-it-alls of the 1980’s. Mixing the traits of two seemingly opposed breeds, the bobos represented a new social figure that began to emerge in the 90’s. Bourgeois Bohemains enjoy the lifestyle liberalism of their hippie ancestors, but are adamant about the finance-focus of their Wall Street-minded parentage. They want “to be free,” but not at the cost of being poor, or even middle class. “The essence of bobo life,” Brooks says, “is people who consider themselves sort of artistic or writers or intellectuals but find themselves in the world of making money, in the world of commerce.” These bobos as he called them, were the product of the information age. “The people who thrive in this period are the ones who can turn ideas and emotions into products. These are highly educated folk who have one foot in the bohemian world of creativity and another foot in the bourgeois realm of ambition and worldly success.” By David Brooks’ definition, Bobos are highly educated and highly self-aware. Many have advanced degrees and possess the skills most coveted by today’s organizations. They work in professional occupations and are, for the most part self-motivated and autonomous in their jobs. Bobos came into being as the result of several decades of struggles between the bohemian (hippies) and the bourgeois (old money types). Or more precisely, the values of those two groups. The sixties generation put the final nail in the old regime’s... ... middle of paper ... ...d not crass. The emerging code of finnancial correctness aloows bobos to spend money without looking like one of the vulgar yuppies they despise. It’s a set og rules to help them convert their wealth into spiritually and intellectually uplifting experiences.”pg.85 According to Brooks, bobos are royalty in our present economy. Brooks claims that bobos will prevail because, “The meritocratic bobo class is rich with the sprit of self-criticism. It is flexible and amorphous enough to co-opt that which it does not already command.” In other words, unlike previous elite classes, whose methods were to exclude others, the bobo class welcomes anyone with the talent to join it, regardless of their background. Brooks attributes the changes of elite behavior to the creation of a “creative” class involved in advertising and marketing, computer programming, and new businesses.

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