Are you a bobo?

For our final classes this week, we are reading Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There by David Brooks. The concept behind this book was interesting. When we think about the bourgeois and the bohemians, we think of stereotypes. The bourgeois were the practical, business people who worked for corporations, went to church, and lived in suburbs. Whereas,  when someone mentions the bohemians, we think of artsy individuals and intellectuals. They were more of the free spirits of society that did not abide by the tradition and convention that defined the lives of the bourgeois.  However, in today’s society, Brooks explains, the bourgeois and bohemians are not completely differentiated anymore. Rather, they are mixed up. Brooks believes that this new upper class, which he calls bobos, represents both the liberal idealism of the 1960s and the self-interest of the 1980s. Brooks talks about the changes in upscale suburbs and bohemian downtown neighborhoods. It seemed as though each was mixed. In the suburbs people were drinking European coffees and listening to alternative music, whereas in the bohemian neighborhoods there were gardening stores that sold expensive towels.  Companies who tend to market based on consumer trends quoted famous people, such as Gandhi. What Brooks was describing is basically a status change. The old stereotypes and categories people tended to make were no longer applicable. Previously, it was much easier to distinguish between these countercultures.

Today the lifestyles of the bourgeois and bohemians are mixed in more than one way. In this book, Brooks looked at consumerism patters, morality, work trends, and even people’s attitudes. His finding was basically that it was getting more and more difficult to distinguish between what were originally two types of people. Rather, these had been blended into a new “upper-class” and new norm. It seemed shocking that people were blending the attitudes of achievement and trying to climb the social ladder with the more rebellious attitudes.

This change in culture came about as a result of the information age. I found this comment by Brooks struck home with me because of what we have been discussing in this class and my other classes this semester. Ideas and knowledge are just as important if you want to be successful economically as capital and natural resources. In another one of my classes, we have been discussing about the changes in the business environment and how it is no longer enough to simply use a traditional business model. Rather, entrepreneurs and business managers need to innovate and connect those stakeholders on the fringe that have different ideas. It is important to include these external stakeholders and make the business more stable so that it can adjust to disruptive innovation and changes in demand and consumerism because our society is undergoing behavioral changes. Brook’s comment also relates, in part, to our class discussion the other day though. After watching Powaqqatsi, and a short clip by the filmmaker, we were discussion the pervasion of technology into society and changes from industrialization on a global scale. According to class consensus, technology was not negative, as the filmmaker would have stated; however, I can come to the conclusion that technology has assisted society in coming into a world of information that merges with the material world of money. Basically, today, we now need both our intellectual, human capital along with the artful and culture industry. In a sense, there is a new style of marketing that has arisen due to a new set of social rules. The combination of bohemian creativity and bourgeois ambition has created a society that values meaning over materialism and experience over acquisition. Reading this made me think of how much today’s society values studying abroad and more worldly experiences during our college educations. It also made me think of some examples that come from my parent’s lives. For example, my dad is a builder and he tells me of some of the upper-class customers he has that spend thousands on these “practical” items in their homes. They spend a lot of money on sturdy appliances because it is worth it due to its utility. After talking to them, he comments on how, to him, they seem elite based on how much they spend on particular items, yet they seem to oppose this upper class and are not as materialistic in the sense that they will not always spend thousands on items that are considered unnecessary, such as a hot tub or Jacuzzi. These members of society are affluent, yet, despite having money, are oppose to materialism. I guess that has to do with how they view money. Bobos see money as a means rather than an end in itself. It is not enough to simply be wealthy. Rather, they use money to obtain “necessities.”

It was also interesting to me how throughout this reading I found myself surprised that Brooks kept making comments about bobos as if they applied to all of society. Then, I realized that once I started writing this blog I was doing the same thing. I realized that this is because Brooks is simply correct that the new bobo class has codes that not only determine our social lives, but also govern our personal lives. Most companies market to this group. Though there are people that fall on either side of this class, but many people fall into this category. I found myself getting caught up on each comment that Brooks make throughout this book. I agree with what he is saying and found myself making associations with his comments and my own life experiences or personality traits of those I know or even values I have been taught in today’s education system.