Status Anxiety Pt. 2. (3 of 5)

Ugh, wherever human tilts its ugly head, religion isn't far to follow. I guess you could compare Christianism during feudalism to the dominant political ideology of the day.

The mindset behind dueling is very similar to the mindset behind a lot of foreign policy of govts.

status is dependent on being observed and admired by the 'other,' otherwise status has no worth…. it requires 'position' and how one is positioned in comparison to others. social status means nothing to me or at least i make that effort. i desire to live in a big house, in a nice neighborhood for its comfort and aesthetic value, but i shun others in my nighborhood and position myself to be shunned, all in the name of not living up to status. i'm attracted to ppl that step-on & step-over status

In Florence in 1902 a literary man killed a cousin who accused him of not understanding Dante GROUNDS FOR TERMINATION IF YOU ASK ME

i would duel anyone who wants my dog! >:D

ah challange Ju to a DUEL !!

@FoggyFishburne yeah…. but I guess every age and every person experiences different kinds of pressures… I mean, all is relative, but not all that much… You can tell a depressed western person not to worry and to think of the hard lives of poor people of say Africa, but that won't really change much I guess. Besides, the joys of life are different too and being poor is bad, but you might truly enjoy other things that a rich person in a developed country has lost forever..

@shipcomesin Now THAT I could definetly agree on. Having a bad season and producing alot of bad crops isn't exactly what your lord wants to hear. Taxes no matter what, right? Talk about pressure..

@FoggyFishburne Sure I guess that was generally the case; besides, at earlier times poor people or people of low classes had other, maybe even more important anxieties i their lives…

@shipcomesin That's what Alain is saying: Maybe they wanted more and cared about their pride, honor etc but they accepted their lot in life. They were just unfortunate to be born in that position in life, the mentality that they could change their stance in society was nonexistent. If you were a farmer, you were a farmer, period. If you were an aristocrat, you were a noble, period. Changing your position in a caste system is impossible, so they just accepted life and went on. IE they didn't moan

Desperate-to-be-famous American Idol contestants come to mind while watching this, many thanks for this series.

but is the anxiety really worse? I think of the villages a century ago, back then the "status" or "pride" of an individual in the small society was really really important – maybe much more than now that everyone can "do what they want"

it's what we say in Greece, "it's better to have your eye cut out than to be given a name" meaning a depraving name like loser, or slut

Mais vous n'êtes pas la seule personne qui peut parler français, mon ami! And, I agree with your point.

Je trouve le témoignage de cette maman très touchant, bouleversant même; mais la transition avec la séquence suivante manque de compassion: analyse that …is you can ^^

Meritocracy rewards financially just a little fraction of people in our society. Meritocracy is made over the principle that we have all the same abilities and opportunities and this is simply not true. The fact is just the contrary: we don't have the same abilities and we don't have the same opportunities. Meritocracy is the world to legitimate those (perhaps less than 10%) who have succeed financially. Just one of many, many examples : meritocracy apply for mentally ill ???

Status Anxiety emerges today principally because of the unjust meritocratic society. Aristocratic society was not just, nor the meritocratic. The first rewarded financially almost the same families over the centuries. The meritocratic society rewards financially just a minor fraction of the population, those who have specific abilities and opportunities in life. The vast majority of people that don't have the abilities or the opportunities struggle with status anxiety.