Ever heard of Bobos? Short for 'Bourgeois Bohemians,' Bobos is what commentator David Brooks calls the contemporary upper-middle class. As Brooks points out in his 2000 book 'Bobos in Paradise,' Madison is becoming Bobo. On one hand, Bobos are as banal as any era's bourgeoisie'over on Monroe Street, couples hire nannies for their children. On the other, Bobos are highly educated and exhibit traces of 1960s Bohemianism'strangely enough, the reason Madison has so many bike trails, coffee shops and bookstores. Put simply, Bobos are counter-culture merchants; they do business not only for personal profit, but for 'a cause.' Yet, whether Madison's Bobo concentration is good is hard to say.
Bobos are the class of citizenry that drives fat SUVs to pick up groceries at the organically-fresh Whole Foods supermarket on University Avenue. A highly educated class that will spend $5 on a cup of coffee, believing they are buying 'Fair Trade' and therefore aiding faraway Colombian peasants. A nominally anti-materialistic class which purchases $250 North Face parkas (not to brave the Himalayas, but the Capitol Loop) on the grounds that such jackets are not so much fashionable as 'useful' and 'authentic.'
Bobos have turned bourgeois consumption into a spiritually fulfilling activity, thereby comporting their crass materialism with admirable values. By the same token, Bobos turn business and professional life into an area of personal fulfillment. On the corner of Drake and Randall, across from the Henry Vilas Zoo, lies the Zuzu Caf'??an establishment illustrative of Bobo business values. Two years ago the building was a failing quickie-mart owned by a South Asian couple. It was a place where you could buy M&Ms or a case of Miller for a few bucks. Renovated and under new ownership, the old white-washed quickie-mart is now a colorful neighborhood caf?? where, instead of M&Ms and Miller Lite, you buy organic Peruvian chocolate and microbrews.
Nevertheless, Zuzu Caf?? strives to be more. It oozes with the yearning to be a neighborhood commons where locals can relax as their children play with thoughtfully-provided educational toys. Thus, Zuzu's owner not only profits, he also supports progressive causes and even the local neighborhood. Zuzu is a heart-warming'not to mention expensive'place to eat lunch.
But can consumption or business ever be about more than materialism and profit? On some level, you'd be right to think that Madison's Bobos are hypocritical, a la Sheila Broflovski and the 'aging liberal hippie douches' that Trey Parker and Matt Stone's Cartman ridicules in 'South Park.' The fact that Bobo materialism trumps Bobo idealism speaks to a fact about the 1960s that writers and historians as diverse as the wired Hunter S. Thompson and the professorial Howard Zinn have pointed out repeatedly: The Establishment, or everything that was mundane, bourgeois, square and evil, ultimately co-opted the 'movements' of the 1960s.
According to David Brooks, that co-optating was not so bad. This is understandable, as Brooks is a conservative, and in his eyes, the decade of the 1960s, like Lucifer, is source of all darkness. But Brooks' point is well taken; co-opting reconciled divergent trends in our society. And it's hard to deny that in Madison Bobos have been beneficial. Zuzu Caf?? may be pricey, but it's a healthier, nicer place to eat than the McDonald's on Regent.
Our UW-Madison also exhibits Bobo tendencies as increasing tuition costs and admission standards alter student demographics. Many of the newer, 'smarter' Madison students are'suitably'progressive, but are also resume junkies, having little time in their over-achieving, conformist schedules to actually serve the causes they ostensibly support.
When nationally-known campus preacher Jed Smock was on University Mall a month back, his dated tirades against Jim Morrison attracted larger crowds than concurrent anti-Iraq War demonstrations. It seems like passing students would rather argue with a teetotaler who persecutes their hedonism than rally for a cause actually worth more than saving the self.
The point is that 1960s counter-culture has not quite survived bourgeois adulteration intact, be it in Madison or elsewhere. So while it's nice to know that business owners like the Zuzu Caf'??s proprietor aren't all Gordon Gekko 'Greed is Good' types, it's depressing that we've come to associate true activism with drinking Fair Trade java.
