Infobox
Status Anxiety
Info
Author Status dnf Year Read 2023 Rating ★★★★ Shelves Nonfiction,Worth a re-read
Main ideas
The gist of the book is humankind’s restless pursuit of “status,” which we’re anxious to have because it makes us desirable, which in turn (or at the end of a long chain of root causes) secures us love, the bases of psychological human needs.
And the elusive thing about status is it can only be granted through the social agreement of others, and by society at large. I cannot, on my own, decide that I have status. It must be bestowed by others’ perception of me and concretized in the way they treat me.
Review
The middle of the book feels dedicated to examples of status anxiety portrayed in different sectors. That’s not bad or uninteresting, but it did make me lose momentum because the first few chapters were much more enlightening.
So this is a rare event where I give a book 4.0 stars despite my not finishing it.