Posted on 12/31/2002 9:35:38 AM PST by shrinkermd
David Brooks asserts there is a new upper class. He claims this "upper class" is an amalgam of bourgeois and bohemian values. He describes this alleged new class with the neologism "bobo." It seems like the same old bourgeoisie to me, but Mr. Brooks does persuasively describe the many changes that have occurred in the upper-middle class.
Not only is Mr. Brooks a master, erudite wordsmith, but he is also entertaining. This is not surprising since he is a conservative public intellectual who is senior editor at The Weekly Standard and a contributing editor for both Newsweekand the Atlantic Monthly. In addition Mr. Brooks is the Machine Agcolumnist for the New York Times Magazine and is regular commentator on National Public Radio, CNN Late Edition and the NewsHourwith Jim Lehrer. Before he joined The Weekly Standard, he worked for nine years at the Wall Street Journal. His last job at the Wall Street Journal was op-ed editor. Prior to this, he worked for the City News Bureau of the Chicago Tribune. At various times, he has published articles in The New Yorker, Forbes, Washington Post, Public Interest and other magazines. He also edited Backward and Upward: The New Conservative Writing (Vintage Books).
His extensive curriculum vita needs recounting because this is an important book. Many reviews have commented on the fine and entertaining writing, but few mention the excellent description and scholarship. In a certain sense, good science is good description. Mr. Brooks establishes his expert credentials both as a social scientist and critic with the publication of this book.
His first Chapter, The Rise of the Educated Class, accounts for the change in composition and direction of the upper-middle class. The author sees this as a new meritocracy that began when James Bryant Conant was president of Harvard. Professor Conant enlisted the help of Henry Chauncey who began The Educational Testing Service. Between the two of them they made the Student Achievement Test (SAT) the gatekeeper for Harvard. Almost immediately, the WASP bastions changed in character and ability. From the children of old alumni with SAT scores averaging 583 Harvard went to children of merit with average SAT scores of 695. To meet the change and the competition other Ivy League Colleges followed suit. Soon every college and university used the SAT as a means of student selection and encouragement.
Mr. Brooks properly credits Herrnstein and Murray in The Bell Curve (1994) for initially describing this phenomenon; however, Mr. Brooks does not mention that The Bell Curve documented a cognitive elite not unlike what he calls the bobos. In any case, the author documents that the "campus gates were thus thrown open on the basis of brains not blood and within a few short years the university landscape was transformed."
Mr. Brooks reviews the history of the sixties and concludes only a minority rejected all notion of success and dropped out. What happened is the sixties generation found that achievement, and especially academic achievement, was their goal. A meritocracy quickly developed that some felt resulted in too many educated Americans with not enough to do. This was short lived. In the eighties college graduates earned 35% more than high school graduates. By the mid- nineties college graduates earned 70% more than high school graduates did. The information age has rewarded education like never before. Like Richard Florida in The Rise of The Creative Class, Mr. Brooks notes that while only 20% of the population has a college degree there are areas where college degrees are the norm and other areas where college degrees are almost absent. This geographic differentiation leads to areas that are economic winners and other areas that are economic losers.
The meritocracy is today's establishment. As the dominant class its mores, morals and values carry down into the other social classes. The author hesitates to give a firm description of the meritocracy but suggests their attendance at competitive colleges, living in upscale neighborhoods and in certain cities differentiate this class from the ordinary middle class. This new class is insecure. The author pictures them as torn between raw ambition and "not turning into sellouts." Children of Bobos may not measure up to the requirements of a meritocracy. Further, there is always danger in a meritocracy of slipping a notch or two and falling out of this privileged position. Finally, there are ever shifting occupational and social requirements. There is little or no rest from working, achieving and learning.
In chapter 2, Consumption is the subject. Mr. Brooks begins with a referenced history of the rise of the bourgeois as well as the 'bohemians" and their eventual blending into the Bobo class. Certain things about consumption patterns puzzles me. I have previously referenced Richard Florida but other authors have focused on consumption patterns including Epstein in Snobbery the American Version and Paul Fussell in Class: A Guide Through the American Status System. Seemingly, listing the ephemeral spending habits of the upper middle class is fascinating for English professors and public intellectuals. Members not of this class can only be puzzled and bewildered by the host of exotic and expensive items preferred by this class.
Ordinarily, one can not make rhyme nor reason out the spending habits of a given social class. Having a certain amount of money is a basic requirement. To his credit, Mr. Brooks attempts to go beyond the usual with a spending classification for the educated or Bobo class. He calls this the Code of Financial Correctness and uses rules to discriminate between virtuous and vulgar spending. The rules are:
While laced with humor and irony, the author's rules of spending are seemingly both apt and accurate. Science is not only good description but also "carving nature at her joints." What better rules of spending can you find in any other author's typology? Kudos to Mr. Brooks and this humorous but important classification of Bobo spending. As he said at the end of this chapter, "...Marx wrote the bourgeois takes all that is sacred and makes it profane...The Bobos take everything that is profane and make it sacred...Everything the Bobos handle turns into soul..."
Bobos have not adopted European-style vacations or work habits. For example in the December 2002 issue of the American Enterprise Magazine Karl Zinsmeister describes American versus European work habits thusly:
"Americans work harder: 72 percent of the U.S. population is at work, compared to only 58 percent in the E.U. American workers also put in more hours. And U.S. workers are more productive--an E.U. worker currently produces 73 cents worth of output in the same period of time a U.S. worker creates a dollar's worth."
Bobos have turned their work into a spiritual and intellectual vocation with a high premium on informality and creativity. They choose to see themselves as not only creative but interested in learning and personal growth. They have a tendency not to put the organization first but rather to put themselves first. If possible, they find workplaces that are as cool as they are.
The educated class places a premium on environmentalism, healthism and egalitarianism. This results in their avoiding living ostentatiously. They also avoid at all costs being fat, using drugs or alcohol to excess and carousing. The coffee shop, jogging and cycling have replaced the four Martini lunch. Within limits, it is important to maintain a youthful appearance and a svelte, athletic habitus.
Forty-eight pages of this book are devoted to the "intellectual life." The author reviews the history of public intellectuals and describes how to become one. At one time, the intellectual was an independent person who renounced materialism and served as the conscience for the nation. No longer is this the case. Now we have intellectual entrepreneurs who minimize or deny the gap between themselves and others. Mr. Brooks also has a lengthy, humorous and interesting section on how to become a public intellectual--well worth the price of the book if you have ambitions in this area.
Bobos prefer pleasures that are ennobling or life-enhancing. Exercise is in. Smoking is not only out but a deadly sin. Healthy diets are in. Sin is now eating hi-fat and hi-caloric foods. If possible, sports must be aerobic. Public drunkenness is out. Obscure travel destinations are in. Serious play such as long distance running, mountain climbing and mountain biking is in. The core of sexual mores is disease prevention not avoiding sin. In general, Bobos blur the line between work and play by taking both very seriously. At the same time, Bobos do not give up any pleasure because of religious prohibitions.
I found Chapter 6, Spiritual Life, to be most valuable. It is rare for sociologists or psychologists to consider this important human dimension of life. When they do they restrict the inquiry to surveys destined to prove prior assumptions. Mr. Brooks does not do this. He begins this chapter with a personal vignette about the "soul experience" the Bobos seek in Montana. What they pine for is a simpler way of living by focusing on people who lead settled lives. This search for a simpler way of living is at variance with the peripatetic Bobo who is opportunity grasping and highly mobile.
Bobos believe it is better to be a nonconformist than a conformist. Carried over into the spiritual life it leads to psychotherapeutic cults, Far Eastern religions and varieties of earth worship. Individualistic spiritual freedom goes to the extreme sometimes with painful consequences. As Mr. Brooks puts it, "The life of perpetual choice is a life of perpetual longing as you are prodded by the inextinguishable desire to try the next new thing." Some challenge this hyper-individualism. As far back as 1985 Robert Bellah in Habits of the Heart noted that the educated class was into deep exploration and no longer obedient to spiritual authority. Professor Bellah found one outstanding example in a young nurse who had a personal religion tailor-made by herself for herself. Mr. Brooks found a Rabbi who practiced "flexidoxy:" a tailor-made religion of old rituals and picking and choosing moral absolutes.
Educated people are suspicious and critical of people who express moral or religious certainty. Some practice polytheism by following multiple religious at the same time. Others crave some sort of spiritual certainty by finding comfortable religious rituals without practicing the rigid moral codes required by their religion.
By changing their spiritual values, the educated class has also changed its judgement of others. They are tolerant to a fault. They tolerate lifestyle experimentation of an immoral nature as long as it does not hurt anyone else. They prize good intentions and are prone to forgive too soon. A perpetrator of a serious wrong improves his chances immediately by apologizing and showing remorse.
The public forgave President Clinton after the Lewinsky imbroglio: this was shocking to some. Makes sense if you remember the dominant, educated class is tolerant to a fault, no other person was injured and President Clinton (after two or three tries) apologized and expressed remorse. President Clinton understood the blending of the bourgeois and bohemian morals and responded accordingly.
Not only President Clinton, but all politicians now must respond to this blending of bourgeois and bohemian values. Politicians cannot function at the extremes of their party. They must triangulate, reconcile and compromise in a soft voice. Further, they must identify themselves as open minded and fair--"compassionate conservative" is one such open-minded assumed identity.
The educated class, like the public in general, believes they are doing quite well, but most are not. David Whitman coined the word "optimism gap" in his 1998 book. This book pointed out most believed their school, Congressman and neighborhood are fine, but, at the same time, they see national crises in these institutions. Bobos identify with their leaders and institutions. Politicians wanting to challenge an incumbent must overcome this identification. Finally, anyone reading a doom and gloom survey should remember the difference people believe about their politician or institution and those of the nation at large.
The Bobo conservatives define themselves not by ideology but by temperament. They are against large, new developments and sports stadiums and for preserving existing historical and other older buildings. They see "neighborhoods" in traditional terms and oppose any effort to destroy them. If possible, they want to live in an older neighborhood unless they are on vacation. They prefer civility and avoid harsh partisanship. They treasure religion and its celebration as long as it is not immoderate or overzealous. They appreciate good manners and old traditions. They oppose grand plans and marked changes in policy. Many "Bobo conservatives" hate the label and will avoid it all costs. By temperament, many who claim liberal sentiments are actually closet conservatives although they do not know it. To repeat, to diagnose the new, educated conservative look for temperament not ideology as the defining conservative value. The politicians have not caught on to this change yet, but they must if they want to succeed.
Whether he knows it or not, Mr. Brooks is a social scientist. His description of the upper-middle class is exquisite and easily confirmed by simple observation.. He carves nature at her joints and attempts (quite successfully) to categorize consumption and other behavior patterns. He skipped over the major findings of the Bell Curve in respect to intelligence, the cognitive elite and inheritance. Why he did so puzzles me, but perhaps he felt it was unnecessary.
This is good book and worth every penny. Buy it. You will like it.
I have posted Magnet's The Dream and the Nightmare. This book documents the "underclass." President Bush believes this book is only second in importance to the Bible. Some believe, it was instrumental in forcing President Clinton to sign the Welfare Reform Bill in 1996 It can be found HERE
Also posted is Richard Florida's The Rise of the Creative Class. This book can be found HERE
Like Florida's book linked below, David Brooks documents the upper-middle class in contemporary America. He does this better than anyone else. He also provides a way to assess conservativism as a type of temperament rather than ideology. In this he preceded Pinker who has a similar view --tragic vs. utopian temperaments.
I have previously posted Pinker's book on the Blank Slate. This book documents the biological basis of human nature and what this means for individuals of a liberal persuasion. You can find Pinker's book HERE</P
I agree with that. In some ways, conservative is the opposite of neurotic.
Spending $300 for a toaster when a $30 toaster is adequate, could be considered a bit neurotic.
Indeed. Given the neurotic behavior of the Washington establishment and all their groupies with "Ds" and "Rs" tattooed on their tongues, one wonders how long it will be before they must redefine "insanity" in order to justify their existence.
In some cases, this is true. It's always the urge behind it. To keep up with the Joneses or impress the hipsters--then yeah, it's neurotic. But I'm a person who's spent considerable money on cooking items (after a great deal of research, of course) so, consider the adage that you get what you pay for.
Since I can't join in on the tools conversation, I can relate it to shoes. In the last few years I lived in Boston, I skimped on winter boots and always paid the price. Finally, I sank about $200 into Thinsulate lined LL Bean Snow Claws--best money I ever spent. The key is always quality, of course.
Most yuppy bobo whatevers don't know quality, they just know price tags--if it's expensive, IT MUST be better. Conversely, there are women like my mother in law who blow hundreds of dollars a week in places like Marshalls and TJMaxx picking up 'bargains' that then just clutter the house. Hey--it's useless, but it's only a buck! THAT'S A GOOD DEAL!
Take care, and everyone--have a happy and safe New Years!
...
Not only is Mr. Brooks a master, erudite wordsmith, but he is also entertaining.
I am not sure I would call "bobo" the result of masterful erudition. I think the author is suffering from an irony deficiency.
Nonsense. Clinton's crime was not getting a blow job; it was perjuring himself in order to avoid accountability for his sexual harassment of Paula Jones. Obviously, this injured Jones, who was denied her day in court.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.