Of Hipsters and Yuppies

A friend of mine was interviewed on the local NPR affiliate JKZZ. The story they were covering was on a comparison of the so-called Yuppie Index which is a metric which aggregates the average cost of Yuppie accoutrements in a particular city- pedicures, dog grooming, yoga, take away coffee, etc. Interestingly, Phoenix actually has a very high Yuppie Index, well ahead of places like New York, Boston, San Francisco, Portland, to name a few. One possible explanation put forward was that it was a problem of limited supply related to the population. In Brooklyn, where half the population does Bikram Yoga (making these number up), there are yoga studios on every street corner. Here in Phoenix, you just don't have that many yuppies since I'd assume that the traditional Yuppies tend to self-select out to places where more people can admire their Yuppie lifestyles.

To comment on this interesting story, KJZZ enlisted my friend Ryan Tempest, who was an ASU architecture alum now working as an architect in downtown Phoenix. Apparently he was put forward as a notable Yuppie, so there must be a back story to this. Anyway.

They introduced him on the radio as a yuppie and I laughed out loud, nearly as scandalized as if they'd introduced him a racist. I've had different views of the label "Yuppie," starting with the naive assumption that all Young Urban Professionals were categorically Yuppies. I still understand the term pejoratively- that is to mean, upwardly mobile, moneyed, overly materialistic snobs in their mid-20s to late 30s. When I think of Yuppies, this is what springs to mind. It's a parody, but a good one:

On the other side, this is what I think of when I think of Hipsters:

Anyway, Tempest was happy to talk to NPR, skillfully turning the story into why he loves living in downtown Phoenix and why you should, too. His point was basically that yes, the yoga classes are some of the most expensive in the country, but you have to factor in the cost of everything else, since Yuppies still need houses and food.

NPR moved on to the next segment, which tried to address what I was wondering the whole time: did they confuse yuppie with hipster?*

I was offended for Ryan when he was repeatedly labeled as a Yuppie. In my mind, he is an entirely earnest Hipster. He recently forwarded me a Facebook invite for a Tweed bicycle ride around Tempe town lake. He usually wears a bow tie and is immaculately dressed. Dapper is the adjective I would apply to him. He and his girlfriend/partner Quinn live in a pastel painted apartment complete with an old record player and rusted signage on the walls. They really want to live as urban hipster a lifestyle as possible. I guess I get offended because I look at Tempest and there is an earnestness towards improving Phoenix which flavors his hipster-ness. He wants to make more places for hipsters, which is to say, places which are authentic and local and vibrant.

Yuppies always seemed much more self-absorbed, self-centered, and disinterested in social space. Yuppies want to live in suburbia where they have the space for all the stuff they buy, where they don't have to see the panhandlers and where they can live in gated communities to reinforce their castle mentality.

I do wonder, after the interview, if the functional definition of yuppie is changing. Maybe it's being reclaimed as a positive with emphasis on the young, urban, professional (i.e. white collar) who is bringing money and vitality and influence to the inner cities. The fact that Hipsters favor urban environments (or rural, but never suburbia, the traditional lands of the old Yuppies) makes me wonder if they are not in fact the vanguard of a new category of denizen: The question is will they Yurbsters (hipsters with a cleaner, more straightforward yuppie image) or Huppies (yuppies with hipster image)

*Similiarities:

• Overly materialistic- things things things! Yuppies buy top-of-the-line things from the best brands. Hipsters will spend the same amount to buy things that look used, distressed, or 'vintage'
• Obsessed with maintaining intra-class image- they both obsessively buy things based on what they think will give them higher social status. And not cheap things either. A Yuppie will spend $500 on Chanel glasses. A Hipster will spend $500 on Retro style tortoiseshell glasses from a Brooklyn based eyeglasses studio. Why do all Yuppies wear Polo shirts? Why do all Hipsters wear facial hair? They are all incredibly pretentious.
• 25-35 age range- Marketers focus all their energy on flattering and manipulating this demographic age group. They are continually told they are the most important people in the entire world. Things like buying Fair-Trade lattes are supposed to really make a difference.
• Affluence- neither one seems to worry about money. The stereotype goes that the Hipster lives off their trust funds or parents (painfully self-aware as I write this in my mom's guest bedroom where I have been living for the past four months). Yuppies I tend to associate with the top two income quintiles, especially if they don't have kids. There is a level of comfort with life bordering on smugness.

Differences:

• Social consciousness- It appears to me that part of the hipster ethos is giving a shit. You buy fair-trade coffee and Tom's shoes because they give a pair to charity. It's really not even so much that hipsters care as much as it is of the image of caring. Hipsters want to be bohemian but lack the poverty and desperation to do so. Yuppies will get their coffee in branded  insulated tumblers. Screw Africa, they just want their coffee. Hipsters go to specialty hipster boutiques to buy expensive artisan cut leather wraps to put around Ball mason wide-mouth jars to take to the coffee shop to demonstrate their frugality, connection to the past, reusing materials, the Artisan, being unconventional, etc.
• Sociability- My impression of yuppies is that they are not antisocial as much as they just don't care about other people or want to be around them. They want to enjoy the fruits of their labor in the comfort and privacy and hassle-free environment of their own home. They want the room service. Lone hipsters are sad hipsters. They want to be at the hotel bar. They want to hang out with other hipsters or with racially or culturally diverse crowds. If a large aspect of being a hipster is counterculture, you need to have a culture to be counter to! Or at least a gathering of hipsters to affirm that the different way they are doing something is way better than the way the rest of the world does it.
• Handcraftedness- Being a hipster is largely simple counterculture- in a world of slick, mass marketing, globalized mass produced goods, there is a desire for something handmade, or at least heavily individualized via prior use or customization. Craft beers. Local products. Really old bicycles. Record players. Stuff that feels invested with character. Yuppies want nice new stuff, preferably from Japan, Denmark, or Germany.
• Whimsy- Yuppies tend to stay as far from whimsy as possible. It's not that they're against fun, but it's big boy fun. They earned this position and they're not going to look like idiots. Hipsters love whimsy. It feels like a last grasp at the imagined joys of a Wes Anderson youth, the unanswerable statement of irony, an expression of apathy in the face of a complex, polarized, and deeply problematic world. Mustaches!!!! lol!