science

Status Anxiety

Status Anxiety is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Status Anxiety rather than just read about it. In short: Status Anxiety is a nonfiction book by Alain de Botton. It was first published in 2004 by Hamish Hamilton; subsequent publications have been by Penguin Books.

Key takeaways

Status Anxiety belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Status Anxiety to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Status Anxiety from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Status Anxiety is a nonfiction book by Alain de Botton. It was first published in 2004 by Hamish Hamilton; subsequent publications have been by Penguin Books.

Central thesis According to De Botton, "status anxiety" is a 21st-century phenomenon which is a result of capitalism, democracy, and an ostensibly egalitarian society, and is prevalent in countries where an inequality in income is evident. Status anxiety can be defined as the constant tension or fear of being perceived as "unsuccessful" by the society in materialistic terms. Today, every individual constantly tries to outsmart the others to climb up the social ladder. The effects of status anxiety can include impulse buying and conspicuous consumption. Meritocracy is a primary cause of status anxiety. A meritocracy is a society in which only those deemed talented and meritorious will end up at the top of the social ladder. Snobbery, envy, and lovelessness are some other causes of status anxiety. De Botton first noticed this phenomenon among the wealthy families of America. These Americans had a lavish lifestyle and most of it was just to make those around them feel envious. America had also witnessed the trend of figures who are "famous for being famous". Botton met the American motivational speaker Les Brown to understand how motivational speaking works. He concluded that motivational speakers conducted their speeches to induce status anxiety among individuals. Motivational speaking is based on the idea that "no one is living up to their true potential and everyone has scope for improvement". De Botton challenged this by asking, "What about those who want to achieve but lack the opportunities to do so?" De Botton lays out the causes of and solutions to status anxiety as follows: Causes:

Lovelessness Expectation Meritocracy Snobbery Dependence Solutions:

Philosophy Art Politics Religion Bohemianism

Film A two-hour documentary film about this thesis, also called Status Anxiety and written by Alain de Botton, was released in 2004. A version of it was shown in 2008 on Public Broadcasting Service channels like Boston WGBH-TV's digital channel WGBX-TV in the United States.

Earlier uses of the term In his 1965 book The Paranoid Style in American Politics, historian Richard Hofstadter used the term "status anxiety" to help explain the origins of the progressive movement, following earlier usage by others. Alain de Botton's use of the term is different.

See also Social status Affluenza Feelings of insignificance

References

External links Status Anxiety - Alain de Botton website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Status Anxiety

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Status Anxiety claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Status Anxiety before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Status Anxiety ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Status Anxiety

In research: Status Anxiety appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Status Anxiety in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Status Anxiety is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2004 non-fiction books, Anxiety, Books by Alain de Botton, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Status Anxiety outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Status Anxiety in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Status Anxiety means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Status Anxiety out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Status Anxiety in simple terms?

Status Anxiety is a nonfiction book by Alain de Botton. It was first published in 2004 by Hamish Hamilton; subsequent publications have been by Penguin Books.

Why does Status Anxiety matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Status Anxiety?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Status Anxiety.