Status and Culture

ambition-and-status

• Max Weber noted, 'Social status is normally expressed above all in the imputation of a specifically regulated style of life to everyone who wishes to belong to the circle.'

  VLA-4233F3BE-RC-038

• Conventions with high status value simply appear to us as beautiful ingredients for a dream life, whereas conventions with low status value appear disturbing, toxic, or immoral.

  VLA-4233F3BE-RC-040

self-and-identity

• We also have to prove that our choices are appropriate and natural for our particular life stories.

  VLA-4233F3BE-RC-068

• The emphasis on subtle codes rather than possessions centers Old Money status appraisals on tiny details rather than grand gestalts.

  VLA-4233F3BE-RC-092

belonging

• This calculus—enduring massive global status losses for gains in local status—made sense only for particularly disadvantaged teens who desired new sources of esteem.

  VLA-4233F3BE-RC-104

• Common interests inspire reciprocal judgments of 'good taste' and bestowing of social approval; mismatched preferences engender disapproval and social distancing.

  VLA-4233F3BE-RC-064