W. David Marx

“[Status and Culture] consistently posits theories I'd never previously considered that instantly feel obvious.” —Chuck Klosterman, author of The Nineties “Why are you the way that you are? Status and Culture explains nearly everything about the things you choose to be—and how the society we live in takes shape in the process.” —B.J. Novak, writer and actor Solving the long-standing mysteries of culture—from the origin of our tastes and identities, to the perpetual cycles of fashions and fads—through a careful exploration of the fundamental human desire for status All humans share a need to secure their social standing, and this universal motivation structures our behavior, forms our tastes, determines how we live, and ultimately shapes who we are. We can use status, then, to explain why some things become “cool,” how stylistic innovations arise, and why there are constant changes in clothing, music, food, sports, slang, travel, hairstyles, and even dog breeds. In Status and Culture, W. David Marx weaves together the wisdom from history, psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, philosophy, linguistics, semiotics, cultural theory, literary theory, art history, media studies, and neuroscience to demonstrate exactly how individual status seeking creates our cultural ecosystem. Marx examines three fundamental questions: Why do individuals cluster around arbitrary behaviors and take deep meaning from them? How do distinct styles, conventions, and sensibilities emerge? Why do we change behaviors over time and why do some behaviors stick around? The answers then provide new perspectives for understanding the seeming “weightlessness” of internet culture. Status and Culture is a book that will appeal to business people, students, creators, and anyone who has ever wondered why things become popular, why their own preferences change over time, and how identity plays out in contemporary society. Readers of this book will walk away with deep and lasting knowledge of the often secret rules of how culture really works.

How Our Desire for Social Rank Creates Taste, Identity, Art, Fashion, and Constant Change

Status and Culture

Karolina

Fashion cycles appear to be a waste of time and energy, moving the population from one arbitrary practice to another for no reason other than elitist distinction and social conformity. Emulation is a delusional lunge at status improvement that only bolsters the existing social hierarchy.

nhu ⋆𐙚₊˚⊹

The end result is that imitation and distinction act as complementary magnetic forces on our lifestyle choices, pushing us toward our perceived superiors and away from our perceived inferiors. And the power behind those forces is status.

Identity, then, can't exist outside of the social hierarchy, as status influencs each part of our self-definition, whether persona, identity, or self.

The fact that subcultural rebellion manifests as a simple distinction in taste is why the cultural industry can so easily co-opt its style. 

History is constructed, and the authority to construct is not equally distributed.

History is, thus, not the stories we tell about ourselves, but a connection of moments that specific well-positioned, high-status individuals choose to highlight and perpetuate.

We had high hopes for the internet: an infinite reservoir of content, free distribution, a broader canon, and a more diverse creator base, which would inspire more people to malke more amazing things.

alexi gunner

The author Tom Wolfe concuded in the 1970s that status was the "fundamental taboo, more so than sexuality and everything of that sort. It's much easier for people to talk about their sex lives in this day and age than it is to talk about their status." 

1. Status maximization: We desire high status and fear low status. 2. Status achievement: We can modify our status through talents, contribu- tions, possessions, and virtues. 3. Status integrity: We should not claim more status than we deserve.

4. Status mobility: We can choose to move ourselves to new social contexts that better value our talents, contributions, possessions, and virtues.

Status and Culture quotes

Join the club