Status and Culture: How Our Desire for Social Rank Creates Taste, Identity, Art, Fashion, and Constant Change

Critic Marx (Ametora) takes an ambitious and invigorating look at how the pursuit of social status drives cultural change and innovation. Setting out to explain why people collectively adopt and then discard certain practices “for no practical reason,” Marx contends that such customs and conventions signal membership in a given status group and provide a framework for mobility: people imitate those in their group, distinguish themselves from rival or lower-status groups, and emulate those above them. Alternative status groups—countercultures and subcultures, often originated by those at the bottom of the social hierarchy—generate new aesthetics, which then influence mass culture, as creative-class individuals borrow from them in pursuit of authenticity and distinction. Internet age culture feels so static and insubstantial, Marx argues, because the speed of viral trends and the proliferation of choice means that nothing persists long enough to inspire “the long-term devotion crucial for shaping identities.” Cultural capital, which requires “knowing and participating in high-status lifestyle conventions,” has also been devalued by the information revolution, leaving economic capital as the preferred mode of status signaling. Marx lucidly synthesizes a vast array of academic theories amid sharp and entertaining discussions of the Beatles’ moptops, sneakerhead culture, episodes of Lassie and Sex and the City, and more. This is a stimulating and persuasive explanation of how culture works. (Aug.)