Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 305
EAN num: 9780375420832
ISBN number: 0375420835
Label: Pantheon
Manufacturer: Pantheon
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 320
Printing Date: May 25, 2004
Publishing house: Pantheon
Release Date: May 25, 2004
Sale Popularity Level: 165060
Studio: Pantheon
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
“Every adult life could be said to be defined by two great love stories. The first—the story of our quest for sexual love—is well known and well charted. . . . The second—the story of our quest for love from the world—is a more secret and shameful tale. And yet this second love story is no less intense than the first.”
This is a book about an almost universal anxiety that rarely gets mentioned directly: an anxiety about what others think of us, about whether we’re judged a sucess or a failure, a winner or a loser. This is a book about status anxiety.
Alain de Botton, best-selling author of The Consolations of Philosophy and The Art of Travel, 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 (ranging from the consequences of the French Revolution to our secret dismay at the sucess of our friends) 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 isn’t just highly entertaining and thought-provoking, but that is genuinely wise and helpful, too.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
Yes, agree with many previous reviewers - this is a fairly lightweight, brain-candy-ish read. Nevertheless, de Botton's deft writing style is pleasurable. I haven't read his more well-known (and well-reputed) books, but you do get the feeling that this is a good writer and thinker, not at his best. It has the feeling of something dashed off in a couple of weeks, or like an extended letter of consolation to a anxiety-ridden friend.
I don't subscribe to the Rand-ian views of the previous reviewer Edelman though, and certainly don't think de Botton is advocating the complete abandonment of ambition in favor of endless introspection, nor just thoughtlessly 'lowering' your expectations. Rather, he is suggesting ways to open the eyes of blind ambition, and to temper, not lower, unrealistic expectations with some historical and philosophical perspective.
Considering our 'expectations' are often inherited legacies of bygone eras of blinkered Pollyannaism, borne of willful ignorance and raised on corporate-driven 'culture', and when the easily misconstrued principles expounded by Ayn Rand are apparently still swallowed whole and without question, perhaps this remedial should be prescribed not to an afflicted minority but society at large.
Rated by buyers -
I am a great fan of de Botton's previous books, but he seems to have lost his direction and his philisophical anchor with this one. Expanding on his discusion of Epicurious found in "The Consolations of Philosophy", "Status Anxiety" repeats a single argument seemingly endlessly: That we would all be happier if we simply lowered our expectations and looked inward for satisfaction.
Yes, many of us would be happier if we did that- but not all of us. There are many who seem to derive their happiness through accomplishment, whether in art, science or business, and thankfully so, as it is these men and women who drive civilization, and help create the wealth that allows modern people the luxury of introspection and leisure instead of struggling for survivial as our forebears did.
There's also something very ironic an an author as ambitious and productive as de Botton- who has produced many books and television series- lecturing us on lowering expectation and spending more more time on introspection. Perhaps he's just having a bit of a joke at our expense ;-)
Rated by buyers 
-
Now it happened to me that at a certain point in my life everybody around me seemed rich but unhappy... My wallet was pretty much empty a long way before the end of the month but I quickly recovered a smile on my face after this reading...
Rated by buyers -
What use is the subject of philosophy if its ideas and tenets have no bearing on our personal lives? The twentieth century has seen philosophy attenuate into a specialized ugly stepsister of the humanities, pronounced irrelevant by insecure, materialist - centred academics, having no "practical value" to the modern world. To a certain extent this was indeed a reality, as the subject "theorized" itself almost out of existence. This is changing, however, as philosophy is slowly being perceived as a method to bring meaning to our lives - in practical ways. Leading the cause to take the subject to a state of practical relevance is Alain de Botton, author of such best selling texts as "The Consolations of Philosophy", "The Art of Travel" and "How Proust Can Change Your Life." De Botton's skill lies in his ability to interpret great works of philosophy, art and literature, and re-mould age-old notions into workable methods of application to the personal and everyday. In this text, he explores the universal social condition of Status Anxiety; our fears about what others think about our sucess and failures, how we are judged by society based on societies value systems, placing us in categories of winners and losers, and how our status is actually historically specific, (society's values change through time) and, more importantly, what determines elite status, is usually imposed values by the elites, to control our behaviours, pushing us to seek material status, at the expense of our souls.
De Botton states his thesis for the book:
"That status anxiety possesses an exceptional capacity to inspire sorrow.
That the hunger for status, like all appetites, can have its uses: spurring us to do justice to our talents, encouraging excellence, restraining us from harmful eccentricities and cementing members of a society around a common value system. But, like all appetites, its excesses can also kill.
The most profitable way of addressing the condition may be to endeavor to understand and to speak of it." (P.5)
De Botton proposes five categories of cause for the condition of status anxiety - lovelessness, snobbery, expectation, meritocracy and dependence. He then explores possible solutions to the condition in five groups of study - philosophy, art, politics Christianity and bohemia.
In the end, possessing any form of status anxiety is unavoidable. What de Botton proposes, however, is that we have the power to choose what is most valuable in our lives, despite what society dictates we should hold in high esteem. It is also important to have a critical eye towards the at times subtle machinations of our media, communicated in seductive tones, as to what is important, money, power and material possessions or a loving family, productive relationships, charity and compassion.
This book succeeds in so far as revealing that there is more than one way in providing meaning to our lives other than what is dictated by the majority as to what determines true value and our so-called status in society.
Rated by buyers -
Despite his name, De Botton is actually a very charming English scholar, who is making a name as a philospher for ordinary people. In Status Anxiety, he turns his atention to the dread that seems to inhabit successful societies.
His look at the underpinnings of sucess is astonishing for its ability to make us rethink the way we live our life. The terms of sucess and failure are seen as almost meaningless. He argues strongly for redefining what we what to do and working to that end despite what anyone says.
De Botton demonstrates enormous learning with a blaze of references and anecdotes throughout the book.
An excellent thought provoking book from a writer who is at the top of his game.
Find other books like this one:
