YUPPIES IN CROSS-NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE - IS THERE EVIDENCE FOR A YUPPIE VALUE SYNDROME

According to the media and to marketing entrepreneurs, as well as to v arious political observers, yuppies (young urban professionals) are be lieved to be van-guards in cultural and political change of the 1980s. The pseudo-scholarly perception suggests that yuppies display a uniqu e combination of social-ethical liberalism and social-economic conserv atism and, in addition, are distinguishable by a low level of politica l engagement and a strong emphasis on lifestyle distinctiveness. A cro ss-cultural analysis of survey data from seven countries indicates tha t although yuppies tend to hold liberal social and ethical views, ther e is no evidence for their conservatism on economic matters, abstinenc e from political engagement or emphasis on lifestyle distinctiveness. Furthermore, the analysis provides no evidence that yuppies form part of a broader category of young left-wing professionals constituting th e ''new class'' of the 1990s. In a final analysis the idea of a syndro me of distinctive yuppie attitudes is rejected for the seven countries .