Status Anxiety

By: Alain de Botton

Narrated by: Simon Vance

This is a book about an almost universal anxiety that is rarely mentioned: an anxiety about what others think of us, about whether we're judged a success or a failure, a winner or a loser. This is a book about status anxiety. Best-selling author Alain de Botton asks, with lucidity and charm, where our worries about status come from and what, if anything, we can do to surmount them. With the help of philosophers, artists, and writers, he examines the origins of status anxiety before revealing ingenious ways in which people have been able to overcome their worries in the search for happiness. We learn about sandal-less philosophers and topless bohemians, about the benefits of putting skulls on our sideboards, and about looking at ancient ruins. The result is a book that is not only highly entertaining and thought-provoking but genuinely wise and helpful, too.©2004 Alain de Botton (P)2006 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"A smart and amusing inquiry....Thick with social history and as funny as [it is] acute." (Boston Globe)
"His richest, funniest, most heartfelt work yet, packed with erudition and brimming with an elegant originality of mind....An informative joy to read." (Seattle Times)

A succinct overview of a common obsession

In the US as nowhere else, social climbing and social anxiety about about status and "getting ahead" is prominent. Even the dominant religion of Christianity has morphed into the Prosperity Gospel, seeing success and status as rewards for good moral character. The more reminders we have that this hierarchy is arbitrary and not all it's cracked up to be psychologically and emotionally, the better. Botton does us a great service with this nice little book which gives us several alternatives to the current obsession with status.

Great message

Great insight into how our minds work with a weird nod to Christianity at the end of the book, kind of ruined his message.

Historical

Was mostly like a historical account and didn’t really delve very much in the human psychology for my perspective. It also had a very superficial treatment of going deeper into status and the purpose that it serves.

A thoughtful gloss

This is a nice gloss of the subject. It is thoughtful book and worth listening to.

something no one talks about

This is the rare sample of a book which had me engrossed as an audiobook, which I wouldn't have gotten through if it was on paper. Presented as nearly an academic treatise, the book is filled with data and great anecdotes supporting his points. I've been highly recommending it to everyone I know, as it makes you think about the things we strive for every day, and makes you understand why they feel worth so much sacrifice.

But it's not just a thoughtful, serious work -- it also kept me engaged with many amusing stories. I'm going to buy everything else he's written!