The Rise of the Global Elites in Market-Driven Societies, or, (American) Men Behaving Badly

Abstract

This article examines the rise and spread of the American discourse and ideology of hyperconsumption in the 1980s through the popularization of sociological types called the “yuppie” in the 1980s and the “bobo” in the 1990s. By the twenty-first century, these types would be part of the “global elites”. The article discusses two iconic cultural texts— Oliver Stone’s film Wall Street (1987) and Bret Easton Ellis’ novel American Psycho (1991)—that sought to intervene in debates on the perils of hyperconsumption through their portrayals of the male criminal financier, even as real-life politicians like William Clinton and Donald Trump became figures and active promoters of the self-branding elite.