Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There

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Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There

3.51 of 5 stars 3.51 · rating details · 2,082 ratings · 272 reviews

Do you believe that spending $15,000 on a media center is vulgar, but that spending $15,000 on a slate shower stall is a sign that you are at one with the Zenlike rhythms of nature? Do you work for one of those visionary software companies where people come to work wearing hiking boots and glacier glasses, as if a wall of ice were about to come sliding through the parking...more

Paperback, 288 pages

Published March 6th 2001 by Simon & Schuster (first published 2000)

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Jul 19, 2007 Jason rated it 3 of 5 stars

David Brooks is, for lack of a better term, David Brooks. He has two schticks. First is conservative politics presented in a manner palatable to the readership of The New York Times and the viewers of the PBS News Hour. Second is pop anthropological commentary on perceived cultural phenomena. Bobos in Paradise falls into the latter category. "Bobo", a long common term in French of identical meaning, is hipspeak for bourgeois bohemian -- liberals with $$$ and status. The problem, however, is that...more

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Aug 25, 2007 leighcia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Though it’s not necessary to read the whole book, the introduction and opening chapters provide a good characterization of my generation and my social class. Brooks describes today’s new upper class—the Bobos—Bourgeois Bohemians. While earlier in the 20th century and before, the bourgeois and bohemians existed in separate social and economic circles (the bourgeois dominating with “old money” and all the financial resources, the bohemian artists gathering in their coffeeshops and run-down neighbo...more

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May 05, 2013 Mark rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sociology, non-fiction

I read Bobos in Paradise because I like David Brooks' columns and I really enjoyed "The Social Animal."

The title is a nod to what Brooks describes as the merging (or rather reconciliation) of Bourgeois with Bohemian cultural values and ways of living and how this reconciliation has transformed middle class culture within the U.S. In fact, he invents the word "Bobos" to label this new educated class of people who embrace key components of both cultural forces that seemed irreconcilable not so lo...more I read Bobos in Paradise because I like David Brooks' columns and I really enjoyed "The Social Animal."

The title is a nod to what Brooks describes as the merging (or rather reconciliation) of Bourgeois with Bohemian cultural values and ways of living and how this reconciliation has transformed middle class culture within the U.S. In fact, he invents the word "Bobos" to label this new educated class of people who embrace key components of both cultural forces that seemed irreconcilable not so long ago. The author does a wonderful job placing spot-on observations about modern consumerist life into the context of this massive cultural blending of previously opposing forces - bourgeois and bohemian. He put into context and provided a plausible explanation for several trends that have become ubiquitous such as the commercial success of the organic and local food movements, the commercial success and normalization of so much of what once was considered rebellious hippie culture, and the changing values that underpin these shifts.

While "Bobos" satisfied in many ways, it also disappointed. I admit that reading it several years after it was written, and reading it after The Social Animal kind of set me up for disappointment because his descriptions of "current" consumerism was rendered prior to the recent recession, making some of the extreme examples he uses as evidence less relevant and certainly not as current. While I don't think the recession has changed the cultural and consumerist shifts Brooks describes, the descriptions are occasionally outdated. I also think the "Social Animal" incorporated many of his Bobos insights into a more coherent package.

My favorite chapter was the treatment of Bobo spirituality. Based on my own experiences and my own study, I think Brooks nails this topic! He observes that Bobo spirituality is far more experience based and far less dogmatic - whether one chooses traditional church/synagogue participation or more humanist pursuits to address your spiritual needs. The church goers are less inclined to us vs. them thinking and more inclined to tolerance toward those of other faiths and lifestyles. Dogmatic rules, ritual, and ceremony are de-emphasized or even rejected while morality and virtuous behavior (especially when it comes to the virtues of tolerance, equal rights, and human dignity as opposed to the virtues of piety, proper manners and dress, etc..) At the same time, he accurately assesses that traditional religions - vehicles for spiritual pursuit - lose much ground when the ritual, ceremony, and community duty are ignored. His descriptions and analysis of these aspects of this modern culture ring true for me and his conclusion that while Bobo spirituality has probably made us a more moral people (less racism, sexism, etc...) it has also potentially un-moored us from the traditional institutions that have informed human spirituality for so long with some likely unpleasant side effects. We've gained much but, we may be in danger of losing much at the same time and there's no telling exactly where this will lead for the future of human spirituality.

The book reads like a series of essays - which in fairness it is, kind of. This led me to be delighted with some chapters, like those devoted to the descriptions and analysis of the forces and timelines of Bourgeois Culture and Bohemian counterculture, and disappointed with some others, such as the descriptions of Bobo intellectual life and Bobo travel. Both of these chapters, while sometimes funny in a snarky way, seemed to focus on a much more narrow subset of the larger bobo experience that the rest of the book describes. In fact, I wondered if these chapters weren't a little more autobiographical than the rest. In fact, the self-deprecating humor (at least deprecating to the Bobo culture that Mr. Brooks self identifies with) was sometimes more annoying than funny as it attempted to both praise and poke fun of the accomplishments of Bobo culture.

I do appreciate Mr. Brook's cultural and sociological observations in the book and his thesis overall that the current generation of educational and financial "elites" in our country have successfully melded the best parts of both Bourgeois and Bohemian sensibilities making much about life in America and the western world better while still reconciling the age old conflict underlying these two movements. (less)

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Apr 14, 2010 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My harsh critique (and this book doesn’t deserve harsh; it’s good, fun, and interesting) is that this is an Atlantic or New Yorker or Vanity Fair article that was expanded into a book. When I got to the end and read the acknowledgements, it turns out I was right. Don’t get me wrong, I liked it. However, his unifying theme is really not supported by what he writes about.

Regardless, the parts are still very fun and well written. The individual chapters make internally logical sense but I don’t se...more My harsh critique (and this book doesn’t deserve harsh; it’s good, fun, and interesting) is that this is an Atlantic or New Yorker or Vanity Fair article that was expanded into a book. When I got to the end and read the acknowledgements, it turns out I was right. Don’t get me wrong, I liked it. However, his unifying theme is really not supported by what he writes about.

Regardless, the parts are still very fun and well written. The individual chapters make internally logical sense but I don’t see them connected enough to be a theme or theory. I believe the idea of the U.S. elite shifting from WASPs to a meritocracy of education. I don’t know if the new elite share all of the values that he ascribes to them. I very much enjoyed his view of the life cycle of a public intellectual. I don’t really buy his new corporate person. The consumer chapter is the weakest on theory, but the funniest by describing some consumer types and poking fun at what we’ve become (guilty as charged).

My other critique of the book is that he uses his unifying bobos theme and seems to consider this group rather cynically instead of people looking to inject human values in their lives, relationships, and jobs. Maybe the values they espouse (and sometimes live) of tolerance, respect for the environment, awareness of consumption and over consumption are attempts to address real world concerns and not a self-interested one-upsmanship or narcissistic self-actualization. He has some evidence and he has his opinion but he can’t really tie it all together.

The description of those in the information/idea economy of think tanks and policy (pp. 153-156, “How to be an Intellectual Giant”) is pitch perfect – likely because he, as a columnist, has had people just like this doing his “hard work of researching, thinking and writing.” Now I’m not saying that I’m an intellectual, but that description does reverberate with me. A great read that will make you think a bit, but more likely to smile and laugh. Just don’t try to accept the theory or unifying theme too much.(less)

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Sep 29, 2008 Izlinda rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: for-college, sociology

I'm stuck between a 3.5 and a four for this, but decided to round down. (Bad math, I know.)

Put into context, this is a required reading for my Introduction to Sociology course. While I'm glad not to read a textbook full of stodgy statistics and all, this book started to get on my nerves near the end.

Brooks is an editor/writer for several papers, I believe (at least at the time of printing) so his book does generally read like a collection of articles instead of a continuous book. His tone is ind...more

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May 19, 2008 Liz Wright rated it 5 of 5 stars

I don’t think it’s possible for me to write down everything I think about this book into one review. I think the review would end up being as long as the book. I will try to hit the main points of my impressions without going on for too long though.
My first thought is that Brooks’ description of bobo (bohemian and bourgeoisie) culture and behavior is highly entertaining and right on target. I’ve known many people like this (and would myself be classified as a bobo) and can see them and myself i...more

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Apr 21, 2008 Justine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Brooks' work of "comic sociology" is essentially a grown-up, much better researched version of my favorite blog "Stuff White People Like." Unlike the blog, it uses a loose historical basis that is semi-rigorously researched and has a general theory that it espouses. Like the blog, it is hilarious.

Brooks himself is a bobo (read, bourgeois bohemian, or the new class of privilege that got here by working hard and being smart rather than being entitled (such as the old WASPS)) so by the golden rule...more

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Jul 25, 2008 James rated it 4 of 5 stars

David Brooks is a fine writer. I have always enjoyed his articles in the Weekly Standard, the Atlantic Monthly, and currently his column in the New York Times. He is a whimsical observer of American life. His writing has an inductive quality about it. He writes about slate shower stalls, cappuccino bars, eco-tourism, and the like. Pretty soon he has painted a landscape of American cultural trends. In the introduction of "Bobos in Paradise," Brooks describes his method: "The idea is to get at the...more David Brooks is a fine writer. I have always enjoyed his articles in the Weekly Standard, the Atlantic Monthly, and currently his column in the New York Times. He is a whimsical observer of American life. His writing has an inductive quality about it. He writes about slate shower stalls, cappuccino bars, eco-tourism, and the like. Pretty soon he has painted a landscape of American cultural trends. In the introduction of "Bobos in Paradise," Brooks describes his method: "The idea is to get at the essence of cultural patterns, getting the flavor of the times without trying to pin it down with meticulous exactitude" (pg 12). In the book with which Brooks will always be associated, he allows us to taste the surprisingly pleasant combination of bourgeois and bohemian cultures.

Being a pastor, I was especially interested in reading Brooks' observations on the spiritual life of the bourgeois bohemians. Bobos, according to Brooks, crave "freedom and flexibility on the one hand and the longing for rigor and orthodoxy on the other" (pg 224). Spirituality, like other areas of Bobo life, seems to display itself in utter contradiction. Frankly, the observation rings true. I see the same conflict in the lives of my parishioners. However, the observation rings too true. I wonder if these conflicts are inherent in human nature rather than particularly Bobo nature. Perhaps, Brooks would see the rich young ruler who desired eternal life, yet could not give up his wealth as the first Bobo (Luke 18). Nonetheless, this observation does not distract from the book since Brooks' intention is to make an impression not a necessarily win an argument.

The book has one major drawback. Brooks is a master as an author of articles. The book, however, has the feel of several articles strung together. After reading his acknowledgments, I realize that is exactly how the book developed. As a result, the flow is different from chapter to chapter. The reader sometimes has difficulty making the change. If you can suffer the disjointed feel, then you will enjoy a clever perspective of early twenty-first century life. (less)

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Oct 24, 2007 Taylor Franks rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Bobo's

The thesis of this book is that the clashing cultures of the 1960's Bourgoise and the Bohemian and have melded into the BOBO. CEO's now quote Jack Kerouac and listen to Grateful Dead. The chapter that everyone I know should read is about Sprituality. The author who is Jewish lays down with precise detail what is going on in most of the middle/upper class America. Life is a journey and no one really has a claim on truth and rather than being satisfied it leaves the person longing for something of...more

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May 18, 2013 JP rated it 3 of 5 stars

David Brooks offers a convincing argument that the modern times are led (in thought and consumption) by the bourgeois bohemians, the result of the aristocrats and the hippies melding during the past 30 years. Their ultimate goal is self-actualization. "To calculate a person's status, you take his net worth and multiply it by his anti-materialistic attitudes." (p.50) The justification of the bourgeois is that economic growth has made for abundance, health, etc. Now, it's ok to spend large sums on...more

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May 11, 2013 J rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It was hard to rate this book ... there were a few original insights, but they were hidden in under layers of verbose muck. The author clearly identifies himself with the bobo class (bourgeois bohemian) and this book spends much time justifying and glorifying them. To call this group of new money liberals “the new upper class” seems outrageously self-agrandizing and inaccurate - people who read The New York Times do not rule the world, despite the fact that they probably think they do.

My advice...more

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Aug 19, 2011 Vincent rated it 4 of 5 stars

Really there is no better observer of American culture right now than David Brooks. He is so damn critical of our collective lameness and this book is well worth it.
It had been on my to-read list for a while: there are many pop culture references to "bobos" and I wanted to know more about the definition.
Bobos are a combination of overly-paid upper middle class elitists who like to act like they are crunchy and down to earth and anything but elite.
What makes it funny is the inconsistency of that...more

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Jun 28, 2011 Adam rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone who is able, and willing, to spent money on a new book, because she is then probably a Bobo!

Shelves: current-events, non-fiction, social-science, sociology

What happens when the 1960's anti-conformist hippie-children who rebelled against the WASP establishments of the 1950's suddenly come into power during the '80s and '90s in which their intellectualism and creativity are financially rewarded? You get a new ruling class of Bobos, or bourgeois bohemians!

In this hilarious ethnography, David Brooks dissects the unique, and often contradictory, habits of today's upper class as they, the Bobos, struggle to reconcile a series of competing pressures: equ...more

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Dec 08, 2010 Jackie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I can't help it; I love myself some David Brooks, and this book is no exception. Bobos in Paradise was written a decade ago, so some of the trends Brooks notes here have long since ceased being trends and are firmly established in the mainstream, but no matter -- it's still a fun, breezy read.

I haven't read this in a few years, but I still remember the opening descriptions of the New York Times wedding announcements -- pages that profile the glittery overachievers who attended the right schools...more

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Feb 26, 2010 sleeps9hours rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Described as “comic sociology”, this book is both fun and interesting. Definitely worth a read. I thought Brooks overemphasized the negatives of the Bobos for comic effect, though there are some drawbacks. But overall I look forward to seeing this fusion progress, hopefully taking the best of both worlds and jettisoning the worst.

Summary I found:
It used to be pretty easy to distinguish between the bourgeois world of capitalism and the bohemian counterculture. The bourgeois worked for corporation...more

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Nov 16, 2009 Carol rated it 4 of 5 stars

One of the most Bohemian towns in the U.S is Wayne, PA. This is defined as having many people who have become wealthy using their own creativity to create what other people want. An example is a couple who opened a bread store having left corporate jobs and
are rolling in the dough. Another example is an artist who builds tree houses for little Prince and Princesses with hot and cold running water or anything else in your house above ground that you desire. This book proves to us that America has...more

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Apr 22, 2011 Patrick rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: social-commentary

Brooks can be funny and he does know how to turn a phrase, but ultimately he's writing about something that had a shelf life of no longer than eight years; I don't think his generalizations about Volvo-driving latte-sippers hold up very well. Of course, it's tough to write about the class of which you're part (and Tom Wolfe, Brooks isn't).

The other handicap that this amusing book suffers from is that its dominant note is one of millennial complacency. Events since 2000 have torpedoed that minds...more

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Dec 28, 2012 Paul Mullen rated it 3 of 5 stars

The basic thesis of the book is this: Prior to the GI Bill and the end of the Vietnam War, social status in the USA was largely hereditary. Those with status and money self-policed with a strong set of expected behaviors, despite an occasional illegitimate child here and there. But with the GI Bill, and broad access to higher education for many, access to status shifted from those with the right money and the right genes to those with the right education.

Given the bohemian> bias of the academ...more

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Jun 28, 2012 Liam rated it 5 of 5 stars

"In this era ideas and knowledge are at least as vital to economic success as natural resources and finance capital. The intangible world of information merges with the material world of money, and new phrases that combine the two, such as 'intellectual capital' and 'the culture industry,' come into vogue. So 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 ano...more

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Jun 08, 2010 Megan rated it 4 of 5 stars

I thought this book was fascinating, enlightening and occasionally disconcerting. You'll recognize your friends as Bobos, but feel less comfortable when you recognize yourself in Brooks' descriptions.

This review from Amazon says it so well:

"You've seen them: They sip double-tall, nonfat lattes, chat on cell phones, and listen to NPR while driving their immaculate SUVs to Pottery Barn to shop for $48 titanium spatulas. They tread down specialty cheese aisles in top-of-the-line hiking boots and th...more I thought this book was fascinating, enlightening and occasionally disconcerting. You'll recognize your friends as Bobos, but feel less comfortable when you recognize yourself in Brooks' descriptions.

This review from Amazon says it so well:

"You've seen them: They sip double-tall, nonfat lattes, chat on cell phones, and listen to NPR while driving their immaculate SUVs to Pottery Barn to shop for $48 titanium spatulas. They tread down specialty cheese aisles in top-of-the-line hiking boots and think nothing of laying down $5 for an olive-wheatgrass muffin. They're the bourgeois bohemians--"Bobos"--an unlikely blend of mainstream culture and 1960s-era counterculture that, according to David Brooks, represents both America's present and future: "These Bobos define our age. They are the new establishment. Their hybrid culture is the atmosphere we all breathe. Their status codes now govern social life." Amusing stereotypes aside, they're an "elite based on brainpower" and merit rather than pedigree or lineage: "Dumb good-looking people with great parents have been displaced by smart, ambitious, educated, and antiestablishment people with scuffed shoes."

Bobos in Paradise is a brilliant, breezy, and often hilarious study of the "cultural consequences of the information age." Large and influential (especially in terms of their buying power), the Bobos have reformed society through culture rather than politics, and Brooks clearly outlines this passing of the high-class torch by analyzing nearly all aspects of life: consumption habits, business and lifestyle choices, entertainment, spirituality, politics, and education. Employing a method he calls "comic sociology," Brooks relies on keen observations, wit, and intelligence rather than statistics and hard theory to make his points. And by copping to his own Bobo status, he comes across as revealing rather than spiteful in his dead-on humor. Take his description of a typical grocery store catering to discriminating Bobos: "The visitor to Fresh Fields is confronted with a big sign that says 'Organic Items today: 130.' This is like a barometer of virtue. If you came in on a day when only 60 items were organic, you'd feel cheated. But when the number hits the three figures, you can walk through the aisles with moral confidence."

Like any self-respecting Bobo, Brooks wears his erudition lightly and comfortably (not unlike, say, an expedition-weight triple-layer Gore-Tex jacket suitable for a Mount Everest assault but more often seen in the gym). But just because he's funny doesn't mean this is not a serious book. On the contrary, it is one of the more insightful works of social commentary in recent memory. His ideas are sharp, his writing crisp, and he even offers pointed suggestions for putting the considerable Bobo political clout to work. And, unlike the classes that spawned them--the hippies and the yuppies--Brooks insists the Bobos are here to stay: "Today the culture war is over, at least in the realm of the affluent. The centuries-old conflict has been reconciled." All the more reason to pay attention. --Shawn Carkonen --This text refers to the Hardcover edition."

Me again: Bobos disdain conspicious consumption, unlike their economic predecessors. Instead, they spend the greatest amount possible on necessities. Here's a quote from the book about Bobo kitchens:
...when you walk into a newly renovated upscale home owned by nice, caring people, you will likely find a kitchen so large it puts you in mind of an aircraft hangar with plumbing...You think you see the far wall of some distant great room shimmering in the distance, but it could be a mirage reflected off the acres and acres of Corian countertop. And then when you turn into the pantry, you observe that it is larger than the entire apartment the owner lived in while in graduate school...today's infinite kitchens have lunch counters and stools and built-in televisions and bookshelves and computer areas and probably little "You Are Here" maps for guests who get lost on their way to the drink station...The first thing you see, covering yards and yards of one wall, is an object that looks like a nickel-plated nuclear reactor but is really the stove...Today's gourmet Bobo's want a 48-inch-wide, six-burner, dual-fuel, 20,000 Btu range that sends up heat like a space shuttle rocket booster turned upside down...Presiding over the nearby quadrants of the kitchen will be the refrigeration complex. The central theme of this section is that freezing isn't cold enough; the machinery should be able to reach temperatures approaching absolute zero, at which all molecular motion stops. The refrigerator itself should be the size of a minivan stood on end. It should have at least two doors, one for the freezer section and one for the in-law suite, in case you want to rent out rooms inside. In addition, there should be through-the-door delivery systems for water (carbon filtered), ice (cubes, crushed, or alphabet style to help the toddlers with their letter recognition), and perhaps assorted microbrews. There should be gallon door bins, spillproof split shelves, sealed snack pans, full extension slides, and scratchproof bin windows, and the front doors should not be white, like those regular refrigerators they sell at Sear's, but stainless steel--the texture of culinary machismo.

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Mar 27, 2010 Rae rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: social-current-affairs

A book-length essay and description of upscale living and conspicuous consumption.

Brooks' account of a Bobo (bourgeios bohemian) kitchen is hilarious:

...when you walk into a newly renovated upscale home owned by nice, caring people, you will likely find a kitchen so large it puts you in mind of an aircraft hangar with plumbing...You think you see the far wall of some distant great room shimmering in the distance, but it could be a mirage reflected off the acres and acres of Corian countertop. An...more A book-length essay and description of upscale living and conspicuous consumption.

Brooks' account of a Bobo (bourgeios bohemian) kitchen is hilarious:

...when you walk into a newly renovated upscale home owned by nice, caring people, you will likely find a kitchen so large it puts you in mind of an aircraft hangar with plumbing...You think you see the far wall of some distant great room shimmering in the distance, but it could be a mirage reflected off the acres and acres of Corian countertop. And then when you turn into the pantry, you observe that it is larger than the entire apartment the owner lived in while in graduate school...today's infinite kitchens have lunch counters and stools and built-in televisions and bookshelves and computer areas and probably little "You Are Here" maps for guests who get lost on their way to the drink station...The first thing you see, covering yards and yards of one wall, is an object that looks like a nickel-plated nuclear reactor but is really the stove...Today's gourmet Bobo's want a 48-inch-wide, six-burner, dual-fuel, 20,000 Btu range that sends up heat like a space shuttle rocket booster turned upside down...Presiding over the nearby quadrants of the kitchen will be the refrigeration complex. The central theme of this section is that freezing isn't cold enough; the machinery should be able to reach temperatures approaching absolute zero, at which all molecular motion stops. The refrigerator itself should be the size of a minivan stood on end. It should have at least two doors, one for the freezer section and one for the in-law suite, in case you want to rent out rooms inside. In addition, there should be through-the-door delivery systems for water (carbon filtered), ice (cubes, crushed, or alphabet style to help the toddlers with their letter recognition), and perhaps assorted microbrews. There should be gallon door bins, spillproof split shelves, sealed snack pans, full extension slides, and scratchproof bin windows, and the front doors should not be white, like those regular refrigerators they sell at Sear's, but stainless steel--the texture of culinary machismo.

Being the owner of a regular kitchen, I really appreciated the hyperbole here.

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Mar 07, 2010 Bob Nichols rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a very good book. Brooks discusses the presence of the educated elite in every day life. He contrasts this with the old elite that held onto is premier status until the early 1960s. That contrast is set up well in the first chapter where Brooks discusses the New York Times Weddings Page. In the old days, the chief qualification for inclusion was the association with wealth. Today, page time is given to the new establishment where spousal unions (Brooks calls these "mergers and acquisitio...more This is a very good book. Brooks discusses the presence of the educated elite in every day life. He contrasts this with the old elite that held onto is premier status until the early 1960s. That contrast is set up well in the first chapter where Brooks discusses the New York Times Weddings Page. In the old days, the chief qualification for inclusion was the association with wealth. Today, page time is given to the new establishment where spousal unions (Brooks calls these "mergers and acquisitions") is based on graduate degrees, professional degrees, prestige schools, and prospects for success. After a brief description of the starchy snobbery of the old order, Brooks then goes into a several chapters long series of keen observations about what it takes to become a member of the new elite class and what it takes to maintain and advance position in its ranks.

Brooks refers to the old monied order as bourgeois capitalist. He argues that this class was replaced in the 1960s with a bohemian counterculture. His thesis is that this distinction has become blended. Today, the new educated elite wants to retain its freedom of expression, yet wants its front-line standing, including financial success. Hence, the title of his book, "Bobos" that combines the bourgeois of the old with the bohemian of the new. The title detracts. Bourgeois and bohemian are alien sounding, vaguely Marxist or referencing gypsy-like people from some dark European corner. The old school monied elite probably were bourgeois,though not self described as such, and is doubtful that the counterculture of the 1960s were widespread as true bohemians. Nevertheless, Brooks is onto something in his description of how we attempt to blend our need for success with our need to be free from the constraints of the old order.

Yet, Brooks may be describing something even more fundamental. Bobos actually sounds like a primate class (bonobos?), and maybe this is what his book is really about. Rather than a contrast between the old and new orders, there's perhaps an underlying unity. His description of both classes seems more like ape behavior driven toward rank and position, akin to either de Waal's "Chimpanzee Politics" (apes in a zoo) or the chimps in Gombe (apes in the wild). Are we sophisticated primitives, apes with bells and whistles? Remove the hair and add in tribal mortality (conformity to norms, combined with subtle enforcement mechanisms) such as political correctness, plus erudition and language, and we can see apes in our social interactions, see apes on t.v. talking to us, and even see the ape within ourselves.

Brooks' last two chapters (our spiritual and political lives) do not have the power of the earlier chapters and seem bit disconnected. Brooks believes that, even with the obvious drawbacks that he observes, the public intellectual performs a valuable service. After reading most of his book, it's not exactly clear how he would reach that conclusion, though it fits with what is likely to be his views about the competitive marketplace of free ideas. The problem is that the goal of all of this is not truth, but marketing oneself to what the market will bear. Plato placed great hope in his philosopher kings and the irony is that the new educated elite, "the Alpha class," seems more akin toward mob voices selling self and soul. (less)

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Jun 30, 2010 Kate marked it as to-read

I haven't even bought this book yet, and I already have 2 issues with it:
1. Though the subtitle says "Upper Class" the people he's describing are clearly Upper-Middle Class. From the Amazon review: "...driving their immaculate SUVs to Pottery Barn to shop for $48 titanium spatulas." Upper class people have drivers, don't shop at Pottery Barn, and let their domestic staff buy the spatulas.
2. From the back cover (as seen on Amazon): "... David Brooks coins a new word, Bobo, to describe today's up...more

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Jan 15, 2012 Lily rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: great-non-fiction

I just loved this!! It was non-fiction that is right up my alley: a lot of interesting social commentary with historical background and social, economic, political, and even religious analysis. David Brooks is a great writer and laid out a very clear thesis that he kept coming back to in each chapter: the seemingly oxymoronic Bobos (Bohemian Bourgeois) marry 1960s era social concern with 1980s era capitalistic enterprise. Not just in businesses, but in leisure, religion, intellectual life, consu...more

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Feb 15, 2009 Danielle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Most of us know David Brooks as the mildly conservative pundit on the News Hour and PBS election coverage. I'd forgotten that he also coined the term "Bobos" to describe the modern class of creative types who express their individuality through the the things they buy and own. Bobos in Paradise is a highly entertaining social satire disguised as anthropological exploration. A great companion to the The Status Seekers by Vance Packard and the Conquest of Cool by Thomas Frank. No matter how noncon...more

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Jan 21, 2012 Benjamin Newland added it

Shelves: 2012-reads, non-fiction

The first thing I wanted to know was "what's a Bobo?" I didn't raise my hand though, because it was the middle of the Bishop's address at Diocesan Convention and it didn't seem like question time. The Bishop had just mentioned Brooks' book as containing pertinent information for Episcopalians. This was last October; it tool me a few months to get to it.

To answer the obvious question, a Bobo is Brooks' created term. He makes it out of Bohemian and Bourgeois. His thesis is that these two broad cul...more The first thing I wanted to know was "what's a Bobo?" I didn't raise my hand though, because it was the middle of the Bishop's address at Diocesan Convention and it didn't seem like question time. The Bishop had just mentioned Brooks' book as containing pertinent information for Episcopalians. This was last October; it tool me a few months to get to it.

To answer the obvious question, a Bobo is Brooks' created term. He makes it out of Bohemian and Bourgeois. His thesis is that these two broad cultural forces—the conservative, wealthy, establishmentarian bourgeois and the intellectual, reactionary, counter-cultural bohemian—which used to be so much in opposition to each other are now reconciled. From the 1850s through the 1950s the bourgeois and the bohemian were opposite ends of the cultural spectrum. Since the 1960s the newly risen meritocratic upper middle class has united them in ways that show up in consumption patterns, marriages, and spirituality.

It's an interesting thesis, and Brooks writes with deft use of anecdotes and plenty of amusing turns of phrase. I don't often laugh out loud when reading non-fiction, but he had me at several points. It isn't scholarly cultural analysis, which he admits in the introduction, but for broad strokes his argument gives insight.

A particularly interesting point for me is that this book was published in 2000. Before the dot-com crash. Before 9/11. Before the housing bubble popped. You'd think these events would render the book hopelessly out of date. There are certainly blind-spots, but on the whole much of what Brooks says still holds true, despite profoundly changed circumstances. In fact, I found myself putting more trust in his conclusions precisely because he'd drawn them without knowing what would happen in the next decade. If you can make a point about culture that still carries water after the culture is profoundly diverted by external events, then maybe your point carries even more water than you first thought.

If you're interested in some lightly used populist analysis of the new upper-middle class, give the Bobos a read. (less)

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Sep 13, 2009 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars

In a nutshell, Brooks does two things here. He presents a well-considered thesis about how, since the 1980s, the various positions – political, religious, economic, polemical – and general societal outlook of the educated classes have shifted to the middle. As a special supplement, he delves into hilarious anecdotes about how this manifests itself as regards the BOBO’s professional, material, and leisure choices. His description of a visit to REI left me rolling in my subway seat! (or I would ha...more

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Jul 08, 2011 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars

I don't always agree with David Brooks' policy and political commentary in his NYT articles but appreciate his insight into the evolvement of society and culture as it relates to so many factors. I first read this book as part of a requirement for my undergraduate degree and choose it off a suggested reading list because the name was funny. Brooks' writing of non fiction feels like he is telling a story about society, as you read, even citations become a part of a fascinating plot, filled with c...more

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Apr 05, 2013 Colleen Mcclowry rated it 3 of 5 stars

It's not necessary to read the whole book. The introduction and opening chapters provide a perfectly good overview of Brooks' social satire. Brooks' writing is engaging, but I would have been fine reading a shorter Atlantic or New York Times piece on the same topic. Reading this book years after it was written also made it feel outdated. I've heard "bobos" referenced so much since this book was written, that the whole thing felt pretty self-evident.

Still, I appreciate Brooks' sociological observ...more

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Feb 22, 2009 Emilia P rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: real-books

My feelings on this book are mixed, though I think I maintain my affection for David Brooks. He explores the culture of bourgeois bohemianism and it's implications for our society in terms of things like business, intellectual culture, play, politics, and spiritual life. I do, in many ways, feel like a product of the society where intellect is a marketable, capitalism is about choice and social consciousness and creativity (on the surface at least), and questioning authority is mandatory. I gues...more My feelings on this book are mixed, though I think I maintain my affection for David Brooks. He explores the culture of bourgeois bohemianism and it's implications for our society in terms of things like business, intellectual culture, play, politics, and spiritual life. I do, in many ways, feel like a product of the society where intellect is a marketable, capitalism is about choice and social consciousness and creativity (on the surface at least), and questioning authority is mandatory. I guess I'm glad for it in some ways, but also hate some of it-- things like "meaningful" tourism, flexodoxy, needing everything to have "texture", wearing serious hiking gear all the damn time.

The title of this book says that is about the Upper Class but that left a sour taste in my mouth. For one: I think the Upper Class he is talking about did not adopt bohemianism so much as co-opt it. He sort of suggests the Protestant Work Ethic got destroyed, but I sort of think it got worse--everything, even pleasure, is an edifying, intellectual experience. Barf. Also, I guess I wanted to know, for personal and maybe political reasons, more about the implications of this shift to Boboism for the Folk, the lower-middle class and heaven forfend, the poor. In some ways, I think it is more insulting than old-school upper-class stodginess. Smarts aren't everything, but equating smarts so clearly with class has lots of implications that make me grumpy. And shit like: Bobos like small towns and authentic people and authentic church and preservation efforts and stuff like that but only insomuch as they enjoy it...guh. Makes me feel like Boboism is as much about detachment and loftiness as anything else. Yuck. Some people care about things with their hearts and stuff.

In the end, I think this is an interesting, and fairly convincing. argument for the face of today's upper class, but I think it has troubling implications that Brooks glosses over. Or maybe didn't really intend to cover. It reminded me of history classes I took on popular culture in college, and made me think of the wheel of respectability from Mr. Sutton's class in high school. I will take the sincerity of the Rough any day... does saying this make me sort of Bobo-ish? Yeah. It probably does.

P.S. I think my parents are just straight-up Bohemians. I like them.(less)

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About David Brooks

David Brooks is a political and cultural commentator. He is currently a columnist for The New York Times and a commentator on PBS NewsHour. He has previously worked for Washington Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, Newsweek, The Atlantic Monthly and National Public Radio.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

More about David Brooks...

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“Self-actualization is what educated existence is all about. For members of the educated class, life is one long graduate school. When they die, God meets them at the gates of heaven, totes up how many fields of self-expression they have mastered, and then hands them a divine diploma and lets them in.” — 6 people liked it

“To get the most attention, the essay should be wrong. Logical essays are read and understood. But an illogical or wrong essay will prompt dozens of other writers to rise and respond, thus giving the author mounds of publicity.” — 3 people liked it

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