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I still don’t know what “bro culture” is. At one time I thought it meant fraternity bros, as in the WASPy “my dad is a lawyer, let’s get blackout drunk” kind of

I still don’t know what “bro culture” is. At one time I thought it meant fraternity bros, as in the WASPy “my dad is a lawyer, let’s get blackout drunk” kind of bro. But in the last few years I’ve seen it associated with Silicon Valley, a place filled with engineers who worked themselves to the bone for huge paydays. To me the two groups are on opposite sides of the spectrum. Jocks vs nerds. The only thing I see in common between the two groups is that they’re both groups of ambitious men, with a chip on their shoulder of unknown size. Whenever I see these articles they read to me like “look over there, the men are making noise again”. Yeah, that’s what men do. Has anyone considered the fact that there are far fewer powerful women because women aren’t generally interested in working 80 hours a week?

ShamelessC 4y ago
It’s the size of the “chip on their shoulder” and the transition from people who care about tech (and money) to people who care about money (and tech). There’s a reason the frat bro tends to become a successful salesman or something in the stereotype. It’s not because they are passionate about sales. > Has anyone considered the fact that there are far fewer powerful women because women aren’t generally interested in working 80 hours a week You know, I don’t think this is really even related at all and ignores a great deal of nuance to the point of sounding pretty tone-deaf.
md2020 4y ago
Tbh I think this is just the classic situation of “elite” humanities people dunking on “elite” nerds. I’ve had the same experience of having no idea what the actual definition of “bro” is, and I’ve decided that it sounds made up simply because it is. “Those people who think differently than I do and also make a lot of money in their jobs? Must be something bad about them. Bros.”
patrick451 4y ago
It's a continuous stream of baseless, chiding articles like this that have tanked the NYT's credibility. If you really think tech firms have a Bro Culture, you've either never met a Bro or have no idea what tech culture is like.
- pndy 4y ago
  It feels like nowadays it really doesn't matter if author is familiar with the topic. Most of the time a superficial knowledge about the stuff will be enough to throw assumptions and accusations all around to see if these stick and if they don't, then buzz created for views and user profiling will be enough. Content produced, ka-ching - money earned, cheers and 'till next time. I wonder when was the approximate moment when journalism become more a casual blogging about anything.
iroh2727 4y ago
Not sure by what strange logic you interpreted this as an attack on “men”. They’re using “bro” in a similar sense to how it was used to describe Martin Shkreli as a “pharma bro”. Specifically, it’s unrelated to “hard work” and precisely related to the kinds of narratives that these people spin. We’re seeing a shift in narratives away from a focus on qualitative innovation, speaking of products and engineering intricacies, and towards a focus on money and “competition”. Martin shkreli, for example, was not interested in chemistry and biology and actually improving health. He was interested in getting rich off of driving prices up on niche drugs with no alternatives. The same is become more and more true in Silicon Valley. It’s the kind of narrative of the monopoly. When what you need to maintain power is sales and PR, rather than qualitative innovation, the culture will shift towards sales and PR.
- goldenchrome 4y ago
  It’s certainly not an attack on women. “Bros” are always men. “Bro” behavior is part of the male biological drive.
  - swivelmaster 4y ago
    Citation needed
blockwriter 4y ago
Their style and affects converge, maybe, as the hardworking nerd models his idea of cool on the fraternity members at university, mostly because the nerds were too busy working hard to pause and think about their individual identity. The entitled frat bros were the readiest to hand working model for important social markers.
NoThisIsMe 4y ago
> Has anyone considered the fact that there are far fewer powerful women because women aren’t generally interested in working 80 hours a week? Wtf is this
- Siddarth1977 4y ago
  I'd like to believe it was the original poster's goal to point out that women tend to make smarter choices regarding work-life balance because they've been socialized to "want it all" meaning work is only one facet of success alongside family, friends, community and personal fulfillment, while men tend to be socialized to pursue high income to the detriment of all other aspects of life. As a consequence of this, if you want to have a diverse and inclusive workplace, you probably shouldn't base promotions based on who's responding to emails at 8pm.

ShamelessC 4y ago

It’s the size of the “chip on their shoulder” and the transition from people who care about tech (and money) to people who care about money (and tech). There’s a reason the frat bro tends to become a successful salesman or something in the stereotype. It’s not because they are passionate about sales. > Has anyone considered the fact that there are far fewer powerful women because women aren’t generally interested in working 80 hours a week You know, I don’t think this is really even related at all and ignores a great deal of nuance to the point of sounding pretty tone-deaf.

md2020 4y ago

Tbh I think this is just the classic situation of “elite” humanities people dunking on “elite” nerds. I’ve had the same experience of having no idea what the actual definition of “bro” is, and I’ve decided that it sounds made up simply because it is. “Those people who think differently than I do and also make a lot of money in their jobs? Must be something bad about them. Bros.”

patrick451 4y ago

It's a continuous stream of baseless, chiding articles like this that have tanked the NYT's credibility. If you really think tech firms have a Bro Culture, you've either never met a Bro or have no idea what tech culture is like.

pndy 4y ago
It feels like nowadays it really doesn't matter if author is familiar with the topic. Most of the time a superficial knowledge about the stuff will be enough to throw assumptions and accusations all around to see if these stick and if they don't, then buzz created for views and user profiling will be enough. Content produced, ka-ching - money earned, cheers and 'till next time. I wonder when was the approximate moment when journalism become more a casual blogging about anything.

iroh2727 4y ago

Not sure by what strange logic you interpreted this as an attack on “men”. They’re using “bro” in a similar sense to how it was used to describe Martin Shkreli as a “pharma bro”. Specifically, it’s unrelated to “hard work” and precisely related to the kinds of narratives that these people spin. We’re seeing a shift in narratives away from a focus on qualitative innovation, speaking of products and engineering intricacies, and towards a focus on money and “competition”. Martin shkreli, for example, was not interested in chemistry and biology and actually improving health. He was interested in getting rich off of driving prices up on niche drugs with no alternatives. The same is become more and more true in Silicon Valley. It’s the kind of narrative of the monopoly. When what you need to maintain power is sales and PR, rather than qualitative innovation, the culture will shift towards sales and PR.

goldenchrome 4y ago
It’s certainly not an attack on women. “Bros” are always men. “Bro” behavior is part of the male biological drive.
- swivelmaster 4y ago
  Citation needed

blockwriter 4y ago

Their style and affects converge, maybe, as the hardworking nerd models his idea of cool on the fraternity members at university, mostly because the nerds were too busy working hard to pause and think about their individual identity. The entitled frat bros were the readiest to hand working model for important social markers.

NoThisIsMe 4y ago

> Has anyone considered the fact that there are far fewer powerful women because women aren’t generally interested in working 80 hours a week? Wtf is this

Siddarth1977 4y ago
I'd like to believe it was the original poster's goal to point out that women tend to make smarter choices regarding work-life balance because they've been socialized to "want it all" meaning work is only one facet of success alongside family, friends, community and personal fulfillment, while men tend to be socialized to pursue high income to the detriment of all other aspects of life. As a consequence of this, if you want to have a diverse and inclusive workplace, you probably shouldn't base promotions based on who's responding to emails at 8pm.