Searching For Dragons

Status Anxiety

Published December 15, 2008 by Grant | E-mail this post

I came across a great documentary recently (thanks, Nate!) about social status, or at least, how we perceive our status in society. It's called Status Anxiety and is available on YOUTUBE in low quality. But you can probably find it around in better quality. Basically the film explores the relationship between wealth (real or perceived) and human happiness. The film begins with the statement:

"The past 200 years in the West have seen staggering increases in wealth and economic opportunity. And, yet, there have been no comparable increases in our level of happiness. Despite being so much richer than a few generations ago, we are often more anxious about our own importance and achievements than our grandparents were."

I put this up here because I feel it really sums up a lot of the issues facing society today; that we want to "keep up with the Joneses'", as it were or just our obvious affliction to material wealth. As, Annie Leonard asserts in The Story of Stuff, economic growth cannot continue indefinitely because the so called, "materials economy" is a linear system and, in terms of resources, we live on a finite planet.

Human civilization has evolved for some 11,000 years based on social relations with very few material goods to reflect social status, perhaps an amulet, a specific headdress or clothing, but rarely something larger or more numerous, and never an actual part of the Earth itself, until recent times. Then came the notion of private property at which point, possession became the sole reflection of social status.

Nowadays, this notion is all-encompassing. Indeed, in economic jargon, we are all referred to as mere "consumers", not citizens, persons or humans, as if our only reason for existence was to consume. Nonetheless, without consumption there would be no economy. Our lust for more and more material wealth drives the monetary system. But, resource depletion is real (be it, petroleum, metals, wood, fabric, what have you). So, we have to reach a wall sometime. Amidst the deep economic recession we are entering, I think there is no more pertinent a time than now to re-assess our status in society, not as consumers, but as individuals. The future can be bright, but it depends on our perceptions of what is necessary to live full, meaningful existences. The future starts with YOU... and... YOUTUBE... so please check out Status Anxiety. Part 1 of 3 is complete, but the other two parts are divided into 10 minute segments - see links below.

Peace,

Grant

Part 1

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaLzRdsdPmE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGyf79izXC0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJlzRNPAtmw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MgfYPbPhao

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvYVjaaXpAY

Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDqZ8Hn0w50

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxZgJ9sp7XA