AccessMyLibrary provides FREE access to over 30 million articles from top publications available through your library.
Create a link to this page
Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:
Status Anxiety.(Book Review)
Status Anxiety
Alain de Botton. New York: Pantheon Books, 2004.
Status (from the Latin word statum) defines one's position in society. We all crave it to improve what others think of us and to determine whether we're a winner or a loser. Where do our worries about status come from? Why is our self-conception so dependent on what others make of us?
The consequences of high status are freedom, space, comfort, time, and a sense of being valuable. It is thought of by many (but admitted by few) to be one of the finest of earthly goods. Different societies have awarded status to different groups. Since 1776 in America and Europe, it has been awarded mainly for financial achievement. As La Rochefoucauld noted, the world more often rewards outward signs of merit than merit itself.
Alain de Botton, who has written such provocative best-sellers as The Art of Travel and How Proust Can Save Your Life, has for us here a warning and a prescription. The warning: Status anxiety possesses an exceptional capacity to inspire sorrow. His prescription: The best way to address the condition may be to attempt to understand and to speak about it.
He devotes five chapters to both in his major theses. Under "Causes" we have Lovelessness, Expectation, Meritocracy, Snobbery, and Dependence. Under "Solutions" we have Philosophy, Art, Politics, Religion, and Bohemia. In all of these chapters he is well informed, humorous, and didactic, writing with a wry, self-deprecating charm. His book tells the story of our quest for love from the world and why we all want and need that love.
Why do people fail? There are many answers--from prejudice, lack of self-knowledge, macroeconomics, malevolence, or just plain bad luck. From failure flows humiliation; we see that we are unable to convince the world of our value, and end up considering the successful with bitterness (envy is one of the seven deadly sins) and ourselves with shame. "Shame on you!" To the injury of poverty, a meritocratic system has added the insult of shame.
- Status obsessed.(Alain de Botton's new book, Status Anxiety)
- Magazine article from: WWD Heyman, Marshall June 29, 2004 700+ words
...expected, de Botton found his theories of status anxiety -- this worry...you are." De Botton's fascination...I realized status anxiety was a major...same time, de Botton thinks that a little status anxiety can be a good...
- Status stress ..BY: By Sharon Nelson ..LD: THE desperate wish to keep up with...
- News wire article from: Asia Africa Intelligence Wire June 22, 2004 700+ words
...condition called status anxiety. SHARON NELSON...issue in Alain de Botton's new book...philosopher Alain de Botton. Status anxiety affects all...latest book, Status Anxiety, published...the first." De Botton concentrates...
- de Botton, Alain. Status Anxiety.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
- Magazine article from: Library Journal Carabello, Lori April 15, 2004 700+ words
de Botton, Alain. Status Anxiety. Pantheon. Jan. 2004. c.336p. illus. ISBN 0-375-42083...or lack of respect, A desire for status can be motivational, de Botton contends. But when we are faced with "causes" for anxiety about...
- Critical eye: Alain de Botton's Status Anxiety ... more Morrissey ... and a...
- Magazine article from: W Gell, Aaron June 1, 2004 700+ words
...there's Alain de Botton, personal-improvement...his latest tome, STATUS ANXIETY (Pantheon), the...what to do about it, de Botton offers some characteristically...effective approach to status anxiety de Botton seems to have neglected...
- Diary: De Botton talks architectural beauty.(Brief article)
- Magazine article from: Planning (UK) March 24, 2006 700+ words
...of philosopher Alain de Botton. The television presenter...Consolations of Philosophy and Status Anxiety is set to present the...structure promotes, says de Botton. 'The feeling of beauty...and women'. Alain de Botton will put that right...
- The architecture of yearning: is Alain de Botton making the same arguments as...
- Magazine article from: Building Design Rattenbury, Kester April 21, 2006 700+ words
...public debate with the new book from Alain de Botton, writer, broadcaster and giver of next...Annual Lecture. But actually, Alain de Botton's The Architecture of Happiness is...balls, and with a different outcome. De Botton is slightly suspicious of late neo...
- `The Art of Travel,' by Alain de Botton; Pantheon.(The Seattle Times)
- Newspaper article from: Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service Upchurch, Michael August 7, 2002 700+ words
...reader-friendly as British author Alain de Botton ("Kiss & Tell," "How Proust...and go see something unfamiliar, is de Botton at his sharp-eyed best. It's the...perspective to play with." Among the topics de Botton considers are the roles of anticipation...
- `The Art of Travel,' by Alain de Botton; Pantheon (256 pages, $23).
- News wire article from: Seattle Times (Seattle, WA) July 31, 2002 700+ words
...reader-friendly as British author Alain de Botton ("Kiss & Tell," "How Proust...and go see something unfamiliar, is de Botton at his sharp-eyed best. It's the...perspective to play with." Among the topics de Botton considers are the roles of anticipation...
- Alain de Botton: Viva mejor, con filosofia.(Primera Fila)
- Newspaper article from: Reforma (México D.F., México) July 13, 2001 700+ words
...y a veces hasta divertido). Alain de Botton, joven escritor belga radicado en Inglaterra...de autores tiene sus razones. Alain de Botton los ha elegido porque tienela firme creencia...especifica la edicin anglosajona). Alain de Botton est consciente del riesgo de tal calcificacin...
- De Botton, Alain. The Art of Travel.(Brief Article)
- Magazine article from: Library Journal Hopkins, Alison June 15, 2002 700+ words
...including How Proust Can Change Your Life, De Botton here offers nine essays concerning the...to it, and then intertwine the two. De Botton's style is very thoughtful and dense...which describes a weekend in Madrid, De Botton compares his reliance on a very detailed...