1980s: The Way We Lived

The stereotypical American in the 1980s was the "yuppie," a nickname for the "young urban professional," a person between twenty-five and thirty-nine years old whose job in management or a profession gave them an income of more than $40,000 a year. The term yuppie described more than an age and an income level; it described a lifestyle as well. Yuppies spent money freely. They sought out material goods as a way of demonstrating to their world that they had made it. Yuppies drove BMW cars or the newly popular sport utility vehicles (SUVs). They wore Ralph Lauren clothes and Rolex watches, and they drank Perrier water. If they lived in the city and thought that laws did not apply to them, they may have snorted cocaine, the drug of choice among the well-to-do.

Yuppies were the product of an expanding economy, and of a generation of Americans, known as "baby boomers," who were settling into middle age. Although yuppies attracted a great deal of attention in the press as symbols of the rising economy promoted by the Reagan administration (1981–89), they were not a majority. At most, there were only twenty million yuppies in America.

Politicians explained that the rising prosperity enjoyed by the wealthy would benefit all Americans. The expanding economy, they said, was a "rising tide" that would "lift all boats." The tax cuts going to the rich would "trickle down" to less wealthy Americans. But many Americans were excluded from the decade's prosperity. Incomes among African Americans did not rise in step with those of white Americans. In America's inner cities, poverty remained a real problem. In many cities, youths joined gangs, which offered protection and a sense of belonging. Especially around Los Angeles, California, these gangs became increasingly violent. Their activities were portrayed in a number of movies late in the decade, including Colors (1988). Homelessness also became a serious social issue in many American cities.

Many white Americans also felt distanced from the yuppie lifestyles. Conservative Christians became increasingly organized during the decade, thanks to the political support of the Reagan administration. Jerry Falwell (1933–) formed a group he called the Moral Majority to present fundamentalist Christian issues, and televangelists preached over the television to millions. A much smaller group of young white Americans organized into groups that protested against the gains made by blacks, Hispanics, and other minority groups. These "skin-heads," as they were known, sometimes violently attacked minorities.

The 1980s was a decade of social extremes. Yuppies, Christians, and skinheads all laid claim to media attention, and all had a great influence on American popular culture.