Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for The Status Game by Will Storr - Available

The Status Game

On Human Life and How to Play It

by Will Storr
ebook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Read a sample Read a sample
1 of 1 copy available
'Will Storr is one of our best journalists of ideas ... The Status Game might be his best yet' James Marriott, Books of the Year, The Times What drives our political and moral beliefs? What makes us like some things and dislike others? What shapes how we behave, and misbehave, in groups? What makes you, you? For centuries, philosophers and scholars have described human behaviour in terms of sex, power and money. In The Status Game, bestselling author Will Storr radically turns this thinking on its head by arguing that it is our irrepressible craving for status that ultimately defines who we are. From the era of the hunter-gatherer to today, when we exist as workers in the globalised economy and citizens of online worlds, the need for status has always been wired into us. A wealth of research shows that how much of it we possess dramatically affects not only our happiness and wellbeing but also our physical health – and without sufficient status, we become more ill, and live shorter lives. It's an unconscious obsession that drives the best and worst of us: our innovation, arts and civilisation as well as our murders, wars and genocides. But why is status such an all-consuming prize? What happens if it's taken away from us? And how can our unquenchable thirst for it explain cults, moral panics, conspiracy theories, the rise of social media and the 'culture wars' of today? On a breathtaking journey through time and culture, The Status Game offers a sweeping rethink of human psychology that will change how you see others – and how you see yourself.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 2, 2021

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780008354657

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780008354657
      • File size: 777 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Kirkus

      June 15, 2022
      Forget about doing away with inequality, writes science journalist Storr--not while humans are humans and leopards don't change their spots. What keeps striving humans up at night? Not wealth, sexual conquest, or security: No, writes Storr; it's status, the relative position we hold vis-�-vis those around us. The quest for high status deforms our better angels. "Always on alert for slights and praise," he writes, "we can be petty, hateful, aggressive, grandiose and delusional." In fact, "status is a fundamental human need." It's not just that we need to be admired; we must be admired more than the person next to us, and we're hard-wired for that golden key: Holding status affords access to wealth, sex, security, and every other thing that we desire. Digging into anthropology, psychology, neuroscience, and other realms, Storr outlines the evolutionary history of our need as social animals to belong to a group--and, once inside a group, to attain rank. Sometimes this plays out in odd ways. One of the many layered examples the author presents is the case of a Micronesian island community in which status is attained by the farmer who could grow the largest yam to present to the village leader, resulting in a society of secretive, jealous, mistrustful Mendelians and plenty of disharmony. Those who do not attain status through yams or heroics--or are shunned or ridiculed--can do very bad things. Storr locates status loss as an ingredient in the makings of serial killers, the Unabomber, and other miscreants. "Humiliation can be seen as the opposite of status, the hell to its heaven," he writes. "Like status, humiliation comes from other people." When other people engineer that status loss, mayhem can ensue, especially today's "neoliberal game," which relies on a zero-sum formula of have and have-not. Pair this eye-opening book with W. David Marx's equally revelatory Status and Culture. An interesting, deeply researched, and sometimes disturbing look into the science of what makes us tick.

      COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading