Status anxiety
By: Alain de Botton
Edition: 1st ed
Publisher: Pantheon Books
Published: 2004
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 306
Subjects: Social status; Social status -- Psychological aspects
Description: "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 success or a failure, a winner or a loser. This is a book about status anxiety." "Alain de Botton, asks - with lucidity and charm - where worries about our 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 success of our friends - before revealing ingenious ways in which people have learnt to overcome their worries in their search for happiness. We learn about sandal-less philosophers and topless bohemians, about the benefits of putting skulls on our sideboards and of looking at ruins." "The result is a book that isn't just highly entertaining and thought-provoking, but genuinely wise and helpful as well."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes index
Table of contents: title: Causes: Lovelessness; title: Expectation; title: Meritocracy; title: Snobbery; title: Dependence; title: Solutions: Philosophy; title: Art; title: Politics; title: Religion; title: Bohemia