2021 TheStatusGame

• (Storr, 2021) ⇒ Will Storr. (2021). “The Status Game.” William Colins. ISBN:0008354634

Subject Headings: Social Status, Material Success, Social Dominance Game, Prestige Game, Human Psychology, Self-Worth, Evolutionary Psychology, Moral Sphere, Interpersonal Competence, Self-Responsibility, Social Negotiation.

Notes

• It frames Social Interactions as competitive and cooperative engagements.
• It utilizes the concept of Social Rules to explain societal norms and how individuals navigate them to gain status.
• It employs Strategic Thinking as a parallel to how people plan and execute actions to improve their social standing.
• It highlights the roles of winners and losers, reflecting the societal rewards and penalties associated with status.
• It draws on Game Feedback Mechanisms to illustrate how individuals adjust their behavior based on social responses.
• It explores Game Playing Motivatios to understand what drives individuals to seek status.
• It acknowledges the role of Chance, mirroring the unpredictable elements that can impact one’s status in real life.
• It emphasizes the importance of Game Playing Adaptation, showing how people change their strategies in pursuit of status, similar to how players adapt in games.
• It explores the role of status-seeking in human behavior, examining how the pursuit of social status drives human actions, shapes societies, and influences our human relationships and human well-being.
• It argues that our desire for status is a fundamental aspect of human nature, affecting everything from personal decisions to societal dynamics.

Cited By

• http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%222021%22+The+Status+Game

2023

• Bing Search
  • “The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It” by Will Storr is a fascinating exploration of how our desire for status shapes our lives, behaviors, and societies. Storr delves into the psychology behind our political and moral beliefs, our conflicts, and our dreams, examining how humans across the world, from Papua New Guinea to Tokyo and Manhattan, compete for status through games of dominance, virtue, and success.

    The book discusses how this obsession with status has driven both the best and worst aspects of humanity, including the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution, as well as more negative events like spree killings and tyrannical regimes4. Storr argues that our craving for status is an irrepressible force that ultimately defines who we are.

    “The Status Game” is not only a comprehensive look at human behavior but also offers insights into how we can use our understanding of status to improve our relationships, navigate social media battles, and excel in the workplace.

2023

• GBard
  • The Status Game is a book by Will Storr that argues that our desire for status is the driving force behind many of our behaviors and decisions. Storr claims that status is not just about power, money, or prestige, but also about our sense of belonging and self-worth. He supports his argument with evidence from a variety of sources, including psychology, anthropology, and economics. He shows how our need for status has shaped our societies and cultures throughout history, and how it continues to influence our lives today. Storr also discusses the negative consequences of the Status Game, such as anxiety, depression, and social inequality. He argues that we need to find a way to play the game in a more healthy and sustainable way.
  • Here are some of the key takeaways from the book:
    • Status is a powerful motivator. It drives us to achieve our goals, build relationships, and contribute to our communities.
    • There are many different types of status, including social status, professional status, and moral status.
    • The Status Game is played out in all aspects of our lives, from our workplaces to our social circles.
    • The Status Game can have negative consequences, such as anxiety, depression, and social inequality.
    • We need to find a way to play the Status Game in a more healthy and sustainable way.

Quotes

• “Researchers find our reward systems are activated most when we achieve relative rather than absolute rewards; we’re designed to feel best not when we get more, but when we get more than those around us.”
• “Whilst we play life as a game, our conscious experience of it takes the form of a story.”
• “The Christians conjured hell, which generated salvation anxiety, then presented their game as the only way to escape it. Similarly, New Left activists threaten hell by radically rewriting the terms by which accusations of bigotry can be made, lowering the bar such that mere whiteness or masculinity are signs of guilt. Having generated salvation anxiety, they present their movement as the sole available remedy. Hell’s threat can only be escaped with conspicuous, zealous and highly correct play.”
• “The actual world is monochrome and silent. Sounds, colours, tastes and smells exist only in the projection in our heads. What’s actually out there are vibrating particles, floating chemical compounds, molecules and colourless light waves of varying lengths. Our perceptions of these phenomena are special effects in a brain-generated movie. And our senses can only detect the tiniest fraction of what’s out there. Our eyes, for instance, are able to pick up less than one ten-trillionth of the available light spectrum.”
• “an experiment in which participants played in three online worlds: Blueprint, Nicholas Christakis (Little Brown, 2019), p. 108.”
• “Whenever people use a word so often that they abbreviate it, it is clearly central to their moral and emotional vocabulary.”
• “We build an infinite variety of imaginary games. Groups of people gather together, agree what symbols they’re going to use to mean “status,” then strive to achieve it.”
• “The story idealists sometimes tell of humanity says we're natural seekers of equality. This isn't true. Utopians talk of injustice whilst building new hierarchies and placing themselves at the top. We all do this. It's in our nature.

The urge for rank is ineradicable. It's the secret goal of our lives, to win status for ourselves and our game - and gain as much of it over you and you and you as we can. It's how we make meaning. It's how we make identity. It's the worst of us, it's the best of us and it's the inescapable truth of us: for humans, equality will always be the impossible dream.”

Book Overview

‘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 TimesWhat 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 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.

Table of Contents

• Prologue 1
• Chapter 1: The Life and Afterlife of Ben Gunn 7
• Chapter 2: Getting Along, Getting Ahead 13
• Chapter 3: An Imagined World of Symbols 20
• Chapter 4: An Imagined World of Rules 31
• Chapter 5: The Three Games 39
• Chapter 6: Prestige Games 47
• Chapter 7: Dominance Games 56
• Chapter 8: Male, Grandiose, Humiliated: The Game's Most Lethal 64
• Chapter 9: Change the Rules, Change the Player 76
• Chapter 10: The Slot Machine for Status 83
• Chapter 11: The Flaw 89
• Chapter 12: The Universal Prejudice 97
• Chapter 13: Living the Dream 104
• Chapter 14: Subjugation, Revolution, Civilisation 110
• Chapter 15: Making a Player 118
• Chapter 16: Believing the Dream 130
• Chapter 17: Goldrush! 141
• Chapter 18: War Games 155
• Chapter 19: The Tyranny of the Cousins 167
• Chapter 20: Victims, Warriors, Witches 182
• Chapter 21: Lost in a Dream 192
• Chapter 22: Status Generating Machines 201
• Chapter 23: Annihilation Part Two 217
• Chapter 24: The Road Out of Hell 225
• Chapter 25: The Neoliberal Self 247
• Chapter 26: Fairness, Unfairness 255
• Chapter 27: When Dreams Collide 268
• Chapter 28: The Parable of the Communists 280
• Chapter 29: Seven Rules of the Status Game 301
• A Note On My Method 312
• Acknowledgements 314
• Notes and Sources 315
• Index 389

Chapter 29: Seven Rules of the Status Game 301

NOTES:

1. Practice warmth, sincerity, and competence: This core principle emphasizes the importance of building positive relationships through being approachable, genuine, and capable.
2. Choose prestige over dominance: Focus on earning respect and admiration through your achievements and contributions, rather than resorting to aggressive tactics or displays of power.
3. Play a multitude of status games, but focus energy on games you consider important: Engage in various social spheres and activities for personal growth and satisfaction, but prioritize those aligning with your values and goals.
4. Reduce your moral sphere: Step back from judging others based on arbitrary moral frameworks and recognize the subjectivity of "good" and "bad" within different contexts.
5. Worry about your own shit: Shift your focus inward, taking responsibility for your own actions and experiences rather than fixating on others' lives and dramas.
6. Turn the gaze inwards: Develop self-awareness, reflecting on your motivations and behavior patterns to understand how you navigate the status game.
7. Have a trade-off mindset: Embrace the idea that collaboration and compromise can lead to mutually beneficial outcomes, moving beyond binary win-lose scenarios.

References

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	Author	volume	Date Value	title	type	journal	titleUrl	doi	note	year
2021 TheStatusGame	Will Storr			The Status Game						2021