Will Storr, author of "The Status Game," dives deep into the fascinating world of social status and its psychological impacts. He explains how the pursuit of status influences our behaviors, emotions, and even our mental health. From the thrill of achievement to the pain of humiliation, Storr reveals the multifaceted role status plays in our lives. He discusses its historical roots and how modern social media intensifies status games. Discover healthier ways to navigate these dynamics and enhance your sense of self-worth.
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insights INSIGHT
The Impossibility of Status Indifference
Status is inherently important to everyone, even those who claim to be above it.
People often use claims of status indifference as a way to elevate their own status.
insights INSIGHT
Infinite Status Games
Status isn't a single game but a collection of infinite games played within and between groups.
These games arise from our tribal nature and use anything as status symbols.
insights INSIGHT
The Destructive Power of Humiliation
Humiliation, the extreme form of status loss, removes present status and future claim to it.
It underlies worst human behaviors, like violence, fueled by the need to regain pride.
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Helmut Schoeck's "Envy: A Theory of Social Behavior" delves into the pervasive nature of envy and its profound impact on individuals and societies. Schoeck argues that envy is a fundamental human emotion, often overlooked in social and economic theories. He explores the various manifestations of envy, from its subtle forms to its more destructive expressions. The book examines the consequences of envy on social structures, economic systems, and political processes. Schoeck's work offers a compelling analysis of the role of envy in shaping human behavior and social dynamics. His insights provide a valuable framework for understanding conflict, inequality, and the pursuit of social justice.
The Status Game
Will Storr
Being famous. Knowing someone famous. Getting a laugh after telling a joke. Getting a good grade. Getting likes on a social media post. Winning a video game. Cooking a tasty meal. Being good looking. Having inside knowledge. Sharing a good recommendation.
We often think of status exclusively in terms of wealth, but it's actually at play everywhere, in every situation where we get the feeling of being of value, where we feel ever so slightly elevated in our relative social position. The universal human desire for status greatly influences our culture, as well as our own behavior and the ups and downs of our mood. We would all do well then to understand status better, and my guest today can help you do that. His name is Will Storr and he's the author of The Status Game: On Social Position and How We Use It. Today on the show, Will walks us through why status in its infinite forms is so important to people, the ways it can be gained through dominance, virtue, and success, and how status games take place both within groups and between them. We talk about the good of status — how it can give us a psychological high and motivate the pursuit of skill, competence, and achievement — as well as its dark sides, including the way that a loss in status, and the resulting feeling of humiliation, leads to depression and violence. Will explains how status can be gained by enforcing the rules of a group and punishing those who seem to be lowering the overall status of the tribe, and how this punitive dynamic plays out online. We also discuss how when you try to eliminate certain status games by making things equal, people just find other status games to play, and that when one hierarchy is destroyed, another simply rises to take its place. We end our conversation with what we can do, if the status game is inescapable, to play it in a healthy way.
The Art of Manliness 
