View source for Yuppie

{{Short description|Short for "young urban professional"}}
{{Distinguish|Youth International Party{{!}}Yippie|Hippie}}
{{Redirect|Yuppies|the 1986 Italian comedy film|Yuppies (film){{!}}''Yuppies'' (film)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2017}}

[[File:Yuppies Go West - SXSW 08 (2319850815).jpg|thumb|right|325px|Anti-yuppie graffiti criticizing the gentrification of [[Austin, Texas]]]]

'''Yuppie''', short for "'''young urban professional'''" or "'''young upwardly-mobile professional'''",<ref>{{Cite book| title = Fifty Years Among the New Words: A Dictionary of Neologisms| last = Algeo| first = John| year = 1991| isbn = 0-521-41377-X| publisher = Cambridge University Press| page = 220}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia | year = 2002 | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Contemporary British Culture | publisher = Routledge | location = London | editor1-first = Peter | editor1-last = Childs | editor2-first = Mike | editor2-last = Storry | title = Acronym Groups | pages = 2–3 }}</ref> is a term coined in the early 1980s for a young [[professional]] person working [[Urban area|in a city]].<ref name=oed>{{cite dictionary
|url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/232576?redirectedFrom=yuppie&
|title=yuppie, n.
|access-date=2016-05-20
|dictionary=[[Oxford English Dictionary]]
|archive-date=December 21, 2021
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221061114/https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/232576?redirectedFrom=yuppie&
|url-status=live
}}</ref> The term is first attested in 1980, when it was used as a fairly neutral [[Demography|demographic]] label; however, by the mid-to-late 1980s, when a "yuppie backlash" developed due to concerns over issues such as [[gentrification]], some writers began using the term pejoratively.

==History==
{{Quote box |quoted=true |bgcolor=#F3F0FD |salign=right| quote =Something is occurring in Chicago{{nbsp}}... Some 20,000 new dwelling units have been built within two miles of the Loop over the past ten years to accommodate the rising tide of "Yuppies"—young urban professionals rebelling against the stodgy suburban lifestyles of their parents. The Yuppies seek neither comfort nor security, but stimulation, and they can find that only in the densest sections of the city.|source = Dan Rottenberg (1980)<ref name="Seemann">{{cite magazine |last=Seemann |first=Luke |title=Chicago's Yuppie Turns 35. Do We Celebrate Yet? |date=June 3, 2015 |url=http://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/June-2015/Yuppie-Dan-Rottenberg/ |magazine=Chicago |language=en |access-date=August 14, 2019 |archive-date=December 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228144916/https://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/june-2015/yuppie-dan-rottenberg/ |url-status=live }}</ref>|align=right| width=300px}}
The first printed appearance of the word was in a May 1980 ''[[Chicago (magazine)|Chicago]]'' magazine article by [[Dan Rottenberg]]. Rottenberg reported in 2015 that he did not invent the term, he had heard other people using it, and at the time he understood it as a rather neutral demographic term. Nonetheless, his article did note the issues of [[Socioeconomics|socioeconomic]] displacement which might occur as a result of the rise of this [[Inner city|inner-city]] population cohort.<ref name=ChicagoMagazine>{{cite magazine|title=About that urban renaissance.... there'll be a slight delay|url=http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/May-1980/Yuppie/|first=Dan|last=Rottenberg|magazine=[[Chicago Magazine]]|date=May 1980|page=154ff|access-date=May 26, 2015|archive-date=December 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221075201/https://www.chicagomag.com/chicago-magazine/may-1980/yuppie/|url-status=live}}</ref> 

The term gained currency in the [[United States]] in March 1983 when syndicated newspaper columnist [[Bob Greene]] published a story about a business networking group founded in 1982 by the former radical leader [[Jerry Rubin]], formerly of the [[Youth International Party]] (whose members were called "[[yippie]]s"); Greene said he had heard people at the networking group (which met at [[Studio 54]] to soft classical music) joke that Rubin had "gone from being a yippie to being a yuppie". The headline of Greene's story was "From Yippie to Yuppie".<ref>{{Cite book| title = Global Finance and Urban Living: A Study of Metropolitan Change| first = Leslie| last = Budd|author2=Whimster, Sam | year = 1992| publisher = Routledge| isbn = 0-415-07097-X| page = 316}}</ref><ref>Hadden-Guest, Anthony (1997). ''The Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, and the Culture of the Night''. New York: William Morrow. p. 116.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/455160|title=Yuppies, Yumpies, Yaps and Computer|first=Fred R.|last=Shapiro|publisher=American Speech Vol. 61, No. 2|date=Summer 1986|jstor=455160 |accessdate=March 29, 2023|archive-date=March 29, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329214756/https://www.jstor.org/stable/455160|url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[East Bay Express]]'' humorist [[Alice Kahn]] elaborated on the concept in a satirical piece published in June 1983, further popularizing the term.<ref>{{cite news |author=Clarence Petersen. |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1986/03/28/the-wacky-side-of-chicago-born-berkeley-bred-alice-kahn/ |title=The Wacky Side of Chicago-born, Berkeley-bred Alice Kahn – |work=Chicago Tribune |date=March 28, 1986 |access-date=2013-04-22 |archive-date=November 8, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108023037/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-03-28/features/8601230082_1_diaper-chronicle-ferdinand |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Fink1987>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-05-11-vw-3459-story.html |last=Finke |first=Nikki |date=May 11, 1987 |title=Claimed Creator of 'Yuppie' Comes to Terms with 'Gal' |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date=September 30, 2020 |archive-date=December 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221075137/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-05-11-vw-3459-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The proliferation of the word was affected by the publication of ''The Yuppie Handbook'' in January 1983 (a [[tongue-in-cheek]] take on ''[[The Official Preppy Handbook]]''<ref name=Time>{{cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,952325,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408082536/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,952325,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 8, 2008|title=Living: Here Come the Yuppies!|date=January 9, 1984|work=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=February 4, 2016}}</ref>), followed by Senator [[Gary Hart]]'s 1984 candidacy as a "yuppie candidate" for President of the United States.<ref name=Burnett>{{Cite journal| issn = 0021-8499| volume = 26| issue = 2| pages = 27–35| last = Burnett| first = John|author2=Alan Bush | title = Profiling the Yuppies| journal = Journal of Advertising Research}}</ref> The term was then used to describe a political demographic group of [[social liberalism|socially liberal]] but [[fiscal conservatism|fiscally conservative]] voters favoring his candidacy.<ref>{{Cite book| title = Campaign for President: The Managers Look at '84| first = Jonathan| last = Moore| publisher = Praeger/Greenwood| year = 1986| isbn = 0-86569-132-0| page = 123}}</ref> ''[[Newsweek]]'' magazine declared 1984 "The Year of the Yuppie", characterizing the salary range, occupations, and politics of "yuppies" as "demographically hazy".<ref name=Burnett/> The alternative acronym ''yumpie'', for ''young upwardly mobile professional'', was also current in the 1980s but failed to catch on.<ref name=Time2>{{cite web|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,921621,00.html|title=Here Comes the Yumpies|date=March 26, 1984|work=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=February 4, 2016|archive-date=February 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204100500/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,921621,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In a 1985 issue of ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', Theressa Kersten at [[SRI International]] described a "yuppie backlash" by people who fit the demographic profile yet express resentment of the label: "You're talking about a class of people who put off having families so they can make payments on the [[Saab Automobile|SAAB]]s ... To be a Yuppie is to be a loathsome undesirable creature". Leo Shapiro, a [[market research]]er in Chicago, responded, "[[Stereotype|Stereotyping]] always winds up being derogatory. It doesn't matter whether you are trying to advertise to farmers, [[Hispanic]]s or Yuppies, no one likes to be neatly lumped into some group."<ref name=Burnett/>

In 1990, rock artist [[Tom Petty]] used the term in the song "[[Yer So Bad]]", in the line "My sister got lucky, married a yuppie".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Merry |first=Stephanie |date=2017-10-04 |title=Tom Petty, Marching to His Own Guitar: His videos focused more on story than on band |url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/october-4-2017-page-c3-ez-re/docview/1985610180/se-2 |access-date=2024-08-29 |work=[[The Washington Post]] |page=C3 |language=en |issue=303 |quote="The people don't get much wackier than in 'Yer So Bad,' which pretty forcefully conveyed the band's disdain for yuppies."}}</ref>

The word lost most of its political connotations and, particularly after the [[Black Monday (1987)|1987 stock market crash]], gained the negative socio-economic connotations that it sports today. On April 8, 1991, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine proclaimed the death of the "yuppie" in a mock [[obituary]].<ref name=Shapiro>{{Cite magazine| title = The Birth and – Maybe – Death of Yuppiedom | first = Walter | last = Shapiro | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,972695-1,00.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071013163658/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,972695-1,00.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = October 13, 2007 | access-date = 2007-04-28 | magazine=Time | date=April 8, 1991}}</ref>
In 1989, MTV hosted the ''Foreclosure on a Yuppie'' contest to celebrate the end of the 1980s.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Blisten |first1=Jon |title=Pink Houses, Yuppie Scum and Beastie Boy Kidnappings: Relive MTV's Most Insane Contests |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/pink-houses-yuppie-scum-and-beastie-boy-kidnappings-relive-mtvs-most-insane-contests-832009/ |access-date=15 April 2023 |date=May 8, 2019 |archive-date=April 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415213152/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/pink-houses-yuppie-scum-and-beastie-boy-kidnappings-relive-mtvs-most-insane-contests-832009/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The term experienced a resurgence in usage during the 2000s and 2010s. In October 2000, [[David Brooks (journalist)|David Brooks]] remarked in a ''[[Weekly Standard]]'' article that [[Benjamin Franklin]] – due to his extreme wealth, cosmopolitanism, and adventurous social life – is "Our Founding Yuppie".<ref name=founding>{{Cite news |url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Protected/Articles/000/000/011/743hxgre.asp |first=David |last=Brooks |title=Our Founding Yuppie |date=October 23, 2000 |access-date=August 21, 2010 |work=The Weekly Standard |author-link=David Brooks (journalist) |archive-date=June 22, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622084523/http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Protected/Articles/000/000/011/743hxgre.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref> A recent article in ''Details'' proclaimed "The Return of the Yuppie", stating that "the yuppie of 1986 and the yuppie of 2006 are so similar as to be indistinguishable" and that "the yup" is "a shape-shifter... he finds ways to reenter the American psyche."<ref name=details>{{cite web|url=http://www.details.com/culture-trends/critical-eye/200611/the-return-of-the-yuppie?currentPage=1|work=Details|title=The Return of the Yuppie|first=Jeff|last=Gordinier|access-date=August 15, 2010|archive-date=March 7, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307191233/http://www.details.com/culture-trends/critical-eye/200611/the-return-of-the-yuppie?currentPage=1|url-status=dead}}</ref> Despite the [[2008 financial crisis]], in 2010, political commentator [[Victor Davis Hanson]] wrote in ''[[National Review]]'' very critically of "yuppies". However, following the [[2020 stock market crash]] and the ongoing [[COVID-19 recession]] they are believed to be gone once more.<ref name=VDH>{{cite magazine|author=Victor Davis Hanson|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/article/243667/obama-fighting-yuppie-factor-victor-davis-hanson|title=Obama: Fighting the Yuppie Factor|access-date=August 16, 2010|magazine=National Review|date=August 13, 2010|author-link=Victor Davis Hanson|archive-date=December 29, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229165321/http://www.nationalreview.com/article/243667/obama-fighting-yuppie-factor-victor-davis-hanson|url-status=live}}</ref>

Following the inauguration of [[Donald Trump]] in 2025, ''[[UnHerd]]'' explored the rise of Yuppiefuturism, an ideology that fused Yuppie aesthetics with [[Make America Great Again|MAGA]] politics and Silicon Valley techno-utopianism.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elton |first=Louis |date=2025-02-13 |title=The rise of Yuppiefuturism |url=https://unherd.com/2025/02/the-rise-of-yuppiefuturism/ |access-date=2025-02-20 |website=UnHerd |language=en-GB}}</ref> ''[[The Economist]]'' reported in August 2025 that yuppies were responsible for the population growth of the [[NoMa]] (north of [[Massachusetts Avenue (Washington, D.C.)|Massachusetts Avenue]]) neighborhood in the [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]] by moving there and buying homes in large numbers. Their yes-in-my-backyard ([[YIMBY]]) attitude has made NoMa the fastest-growing in the country in terms of new housing construction.<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 23, 2025 |title=The YIMBY Capital |url=https://www.economist.com/united-states/2025/08/17/welcome-to-the-yimbyest-neighbourhood-in-america |work=The Economist |pages=18}}</ref>

==Usage outside the United States==
"Yuppie" was in common use in Britain from the early 1980s onward (the [[premiership of Margaret Thatcher]]); by 1987, it had spawned subsidiary terms used in newspapers such as "yuppiedom", "yuppification", "yuppify" and "yuppie-bashing".<ref>{{citation |last1=Algeo |first1=John |last2=Algeo |first2=Adele S. |date=July 30, 1993 |title=Fifty Years Among the New Words: A Dictionary of Neologisms 1941–1991 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-44971-7|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3x-umCIwEYQC&pg=PA228 228]}}</ref>

A September 2010 article in ''[[The Standard (Hong Kong)|The Standard]]'' described the items on a typical Hong Kong resident's "yuppie wish list" based on a survey of 28- to 35-year-olds. About 58% wanted to own their own home, 40% wanted to [[Investing|professionally invest]], and 28% wanted to become a boss.<ref>{{Cite news |work=[[The Standard (Hong Kong)|The Standard]] |date=September 8, 2010 |url=http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=102699&sid=29504212&con_type=1 |title=Homes, cash top fairy tales on yuppie wish list |first=Natalie |last=Wong |access-date=September 26, 2010 |archive-date=June 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629185708/http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=102699&sid=29504212&con_type=1 |url-status=live }}</ref> A September 2010 article in ''The New York Times'' defined as a hallmark of Russian "yuppie life" the adoption of [[yoga as exercise|yoga]] and other elements of [[Culture of India|Indian culture]] such as their [[Clothing in India|clothes]], [[Indian cuisine|food]], and furniture.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/world/europe/15iht-moscow.html |title=Russians Embrace Yoga, if They Have the Money |date=September 14, 2010 |work=The New York Times |first=Sophia |last=Kishkovsky |access-date=February 28, 2017 |archive-date=August 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170814095335/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/world/europe/15iht-moscow.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

== In popular culture ==
In the 1987 crime drama film [[Wall Street (1987 film)|''Wall Street'']], [[Michael Douglas]] and [[Charlie Sheen]] both portray yuppies.

In the 1988 film [[Bright Lights, Big City (film)|''Bright Lights, Big City'']], [[Michael J. Fox]] as Jamie plays a typical yuppie.

In the 2000 American horror film [[American Psycho (film)|''American Psycho'']], the protagonist [[Patrick Bateman]] along with his work colleagues are all portrayed as yuppies.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Springate-Jones |first=Liam |date=2020-05-13 |title=The Madness Of Patrick Bateman: How AMERICAN PSYCHO Redefined The Horror Villain |url=https://www.filminquiry.com/madness-bateman-american-psycho/ |access-date=2025-02-14 |website=Film Inquiry |language=en-us}}</ref>

In the 2013 [[Martin Scorsese]] film ''[[The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)|The Wolf of Wall Street]]'', [[Leonardo DiCaprio]] plays the role of a yuppie.

==See also==
* [[Baby boomers]] (demographic cohort)
* [[Bobo (socio-economic group)]] - French, bourgeois-bohemian
* [[Bopea]] (socio-economic group)
* [[Creative class]] (proposed socio-economic group)
* [[DINK (acronym)|DINK]] (socio-economic group - Dual Income No Kids)
* [[Hipster (contemporary subculture)|Hipster]] (socio-economic group)
* [[Knowledge worker]]
* [[Professional-managerial class]]
* [[Salaryman]], a comparable Japanese stereotype
* [[Social mobility]]
* [[Upper-middle class]]
* [[Urbanization]]
* [[White-collar worker]]

==References==
{{Reflist|40em}}

==Further reading==
*{{Cite journal|last=Lowy|first=Richard|title=Yuppie Racism: Race Relations in the 1980s|publisher=Sage Publications|date=June 1991|journal=[[Journal of Black Studies]]|volume=21|issue=4|pages=445–464|doi=10.1177/002193479102100405|issn=0021-9347|location=Beverly Hills, CA|s2cid=143902115}}

==External links==
*{{Wiktionary-inline|yuppie}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1980s slang]]
[[Category:Age-related stereotypes]]
[[Category:Class-related slurs]]
[[Category:Lifestyles]]
[[Category:Stereotypes of the upper class]]
[[Category:Stereotypes of urban people]]
[[Category:Upper class culture in the United States]]
[[Category:Upper middle class]]
[[Category:1980 neologisms]]
[[Category:Counterculture of the 1980s]]
[[Category:Youth culture in the United States]]
[[Category:Socioeconomic stereotypes]]