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The Status Revolution: The Improbable Story of How the Lowbrow Became the Highbrow
How did rescue dogs become status symbols? Why are luxury brands losing their cachet? What’s made F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most famous observations obsolete? The answers are part of a new revolution that’s radically reorganizing the way we view ourselves and others.
Status was once easy to identify—fast cars, fancy shoes, sprawling estates, elite brands. But in place of Louboutins and Lamborghinis, the relevance of the rich, famous, and gauche is waning and a riveting revolution is underfoot. Why do dog owners boast about their rescues, but quietly apologize for their purebreds? Why do people brag about their grinding workweeks? Why are so many billionaires anxious to give (some of) their money away rather than hoard it?
In The Status Revolution, Chuck Thompson sets out to determine what “status” means today and learns that what was once considered the low life has become the high life. He tours the new world of status from a small community in British Columbia where an indigenous artist uses wood carving to restore communal status; to a Washington, D.C. meeting of the “Patriotic Millionaires,” a club of high-earners begging the government to tax them; to a luxury auto factory in the south of Italy where making beautiful cars is as much about bringing dignity to a low-earning region as it is about flash and indulgence; to a London lab where the neural secrets of status are being unlocked. With his signature wit and irreverence, Thompson explains why everything we know about status is changing, upends centuries of conventional wisdom, and shows how the new status revolution reflects our place in contemporary society.
Status was once easy to identify—fast cars, fancy shoes, sprawling estates, elite brands. But in place of Louboutins and Lamborghinis, the relevance of the rich, famous, and gauche is waning and a riveting revolution is underfoot. Why do dog owners boast about their rescues, but quietly apologize for their purebreds? Why do people brag about their grinding workweeks? Why are so many billionaires anxious to give (some of) their money away rather than hoard it?
In The Status Revolution, Chuck Thompson sets out to determine what “status” means today and learns that what was once considered the low life has become the high life. He tours the new world of status from a small community in British Columbia where an indigenous artist uses wood carving to restore communal status; to a Washington, D.C. meeting of the “Patriotic Millionaires,” a club of high-earners begging the government to tax them; to a luxury auto factory in the south of Italy where making beautiful cars is as much about bringing dignity to a low-earning region as it is about flash and indulgence; to a London lab where the neural secrets of status are being unlocked. With his signature wit and irreverence, Thompson explains why everything we know about status is changing, upends centuries of conventional wisdom, and shows how the new status revolution reflects our place in contemporary society.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 17, 2023
21 people are currently reading
875 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
April 26, 2023
I guess it's not terrible, so there's that...?
And with that ringing endorsement, it's a surprise to no one that I think you can skip this one.
If you're still interested in reading it - it does, after all, have a pretty interesting premise - you should lower your expectations, re-imagine the title to say "evolution" instead of "revolution," and prepare yourself for some very questionable methodologies and/or conclusions.
Having done that, there is some interesting stuff to be found in this book. A lot of it isn't exactly rocket science and sometimes even self-explanatory, some of it is just kinda dumb, and near-enough everything consists of broad over-generalizations, but there are a few worthwhile observations - I particularly like the concept of "democratized luxury."
Unfortunately, the author also thinks he's really funny.
He is not.
1.5 stars, maybe?
I know I wish I hadn't bothered, that's for sure.
And with that ringing endorsement, it's a surprise to no one that I think you can skip this one.
If you're still interested in reading it - it does, after all, have a pretty interesting premise - you should lower your expectations, re-imagine the title to say "evolution" instead of "revolution," and prepare yourself for some very questionable methodologies and/or conclusions.
Having done that, there is some interesting stuff to be found in this book. A lot of it isn't exactly rocket science and sometimes even self-explanatory, some of it is just kinda dumb, and near-enough everything consists of broad over-generalizations, but there are a few worthwhile observations - I particularly like the concept of "democratized luxury."
Unfortunately, the author also thinks he's really funny.
He is not.
1.5 stars, maybe?
I know I wish I hadn't bothered, that's for sure.
February 24, 2023
While overall clearly written and with some thought-provoking ideas, I felt only the chapters about rescue dogs (status as virtue signaling), philanthropy (status as disruption), and the F. Scott Fitzgerald quote (status as egalitarianism) fit the thesis of a "status revolution."
May 12, 2023
I can only imagine the ratings being so low on this book because the readers didn’t like hearing the truth. How has status and class been shaped in the past and now in the present? Is philanthropy really useful? Is modern day status merely a type of virtue signaling? Are the ultra wealthy really different on a human level to the masses? There are a couple of jabs at Donald Trump and some of his former Cabinet members, and an admission that when the author interviewed Trump many years back he found him charismatic and likable. Ted Cruz is mentioned as an example of a virtue signaling political elitist, who is only looking out for himself. And hotels and hotel staff are discussed. The beginning was pretty dry and readers who are anti-facts or prefer “alternate facts” will probably not like what they read and will give up early on.
October 9, 2023
The author writes from a dizzying height of arrogance. Prepare for tongue in cheek to world weary in 3.0 paragraphs.
I disagreed with his analysis case by case.
I may have suspended or delayed my disbelief in each premise if his point of view wasn’t delivered with non-stop micro agressions. It was tiresome. I don’t trust people to analyze when they have such strong antipathy of the subject matter.
I disagreed with his analysis case by case.
I may have suspended or delayed my disbelief in each premise if his point of view wasn’t delivered with non-stop micro agressions. It was tiresome. I don’t trust people to analyze when they have such strong antipathy of the subject matter.
February 23, 2023
Thompson's premise had promise, but he fails to prove his claim repeatedly throughout this work. At times Thompson seems so caught up in his theory (as well as his desire to crack quick jokes) that he doesn't bother to fully verify his claims, instead satisfying himself with broad generalizations and the occasional cute anecdote.
For me the simplest illustration of his carelessness can be found in his retelling of his journey to Italy in order to learn about luxurious cars. In this tale he takes a moment to cutely drop in the term "la vida dulce", failing to recognize that 1) the very famous saying is "la dulce vita" (something he could have verified by looking at the Insta caption of any influencer visiting Italy) and 2) by writing "vida" instead of "vita" he wasn't even using Italian in his anecdote about Italy. He'd switched to Spanish.
For me the simplest illustration of his carelessness can be found in his retelling of his journey to Italy in order to learn about luxurious cars. In this tale he takes a moment to cutely drop in the term "la vida dulce", failing to recognize that 1) the very famous saying is "la dulce vita" (something he could have verified by looking at the Insta caption of any influencer visiting Italy) and 2) by writing "vida" instead of "vita" he wasn't even using Italian in his anecdote about Italy. He'd switched to Spanish.
May 24, 2023
Exposed me to many facets of the modern world that were below my personal radar. Although I think the subtitle is a bit misleading. There is little of low brow that I see as becoming high brow. (Of course I'm a child of the Sixties and I think Zappa is right that I am frozen in it.) And I con't care for his formula of not clearly addressing the title of a chapter until the final 2 paragraphs or so (although some chapters are less opaque than others). For that, I rate him up there with Rachel Maddow as a master of digression.
July 28, 2023
Thompson clearly doesn't enjoy thinking, which is best illustrated in the chapter on rescue dogs, where he skeptically asserts that anyone who adopts a rescue dog is "virtue signaling." Based on nothing, he ignorantly assumes that all rescue dogs have ringworm, without a single mention of "designer dogs" and their subsequent health problems.
If I wanted to read a book in which an author has no idea what they're talking about, I'd read Malcolm Gladwell.
If I wanted to read a book in which an author has no idea what they're talking about, I'd read Malcolm Gladwell.
March 11, 2023
Chuck Thompson is no Thorstein Veblen. Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class is a brilliant book, and contrary to what Mr. Thompson says, most of Mr. Veblen's writing style is not so hard to digest, and most of his conclusions have held up over the century and a quarter since his book was published. So Mr. Thompson got off on the wrong foot for me with his criticism of Mr. Veblen, and he never quite recovered.
Mr. Thompson makes much of using FMRI brain imaging to show how people respond to luxury goods, particularly citing the study that showed pleasure centers of the brain being triggered when subjects thought that they were drinking fine wine, even when they were drinking the cheap stuff. Interesting, but so what? Nobody ever said that the people fooled as to the quality of their wine were lying. Saying that this study refutes Veblen is like saying that the demand curve would be refuted if we could link the concept of diminishing marginal utility to some reduced firing of neurons when we are overloaded with stuff. The neuroscience is just another way of looking at things that we already know. It's like how modern genetic theory gives us new perspectives on natural selection without contradicting Darwin's basic insights.
And then there is the discussion about how the low has become high - the popularity of rescue dogs, rich people working 80-hour weeks and a few other examples. This is interesting, but not anything particularly new. Already in the Middle Ages (and no doubt earlier) people were engaging in virtue signaling with their religious devotion and acts of charity. It wasn't just about saving their immortal souls; it was also about looking good in front of the neighbors. Wearing a hair shirt might be uncomfortable, but as long as everyone knows that you are doing it, well worth the pain. And I learned about the concept of the low becoming high when I was four years old and read Dr. Suess's great story The Sneetches - when it becomes passe to have a star on your belly, you have to pay the fix-it-up-chappie to put you through the star off machine.
Mr. Thompson makes much of using FMRI brain imaging to show how people respond to luxury goods, particularly citing the study that showed pleasure centers of the brain being triggered when subjects thought that they were drinking fine wine, even when they were drinking the cheap stuff. Interesting, but so what? Nobody ever said that the people fooled as to the quality of their wine were lying. Saying that this study refutes Veblen is like saying that the demand curve would be refuted if we could link the concept of diminishing marginal utility to some reduced firing of neurons when we are overloaded with stuff. The neuroscience is just another way of looking at things that we already know. It's like how modern genetic theory gives us new perspectives on natural selection without contradicting Darwin's basic insights.
And then there is the discussion about how the low has become high - the popularity of rescue dogs, rich people working 80-hour weeks and a few other examples. This is interesting, but not anything particularly new. Already in the Middle Ages (and no doubt earlier) people were engaging in virtue signaling with their religious devotion and acts of charity. It wasn't just about saving their immortal souls; it was also about looking good in front of the neighbors. Wearing a hair shirt might be uncomfortable, but as long as everyone knows that you are doing it, well worth the pain. And I learned about the concept of the low becoming high when I was four years old and read Dr. Suess's great story The Sneetches - when it becomes passe to have a star on your belly, you have to pay the fix-it-up-chappie to put you through the star off machine.
March 7, 2023
This book describes the evolution of status -- or rather, different forms of status, something which itself is universal yet redefined and reshaped according to public tastes and strategy. This he differentiates from luxury, which is more of a physical comfort yet reflects a level income or success.
Chapters show the evolution of the categories of status: virtual signaling/social justice (i.e. rescue dogs, organic foods, environmentalism); social disruption (i.e. "sticking it" to the upper class, as exemplified by a working-class southern Italian who establishes a successful car factory in the face of snobbish northerners); or health/physical prowess (i.e. male member size). He also debunks the myth of the altruistic philanthropist, showing the modern mania for charities, humanitarian trusts, etc., as ego-fests and tax shelters for the wealthy. The book ends with our current erosion of the traditional WASP hierarchies -- the disappearance or mockery of "Thurston Howell III" types -- and the democratization of luxury. Nowadays, not only have top hats and silk suits gone the way of the dinosaur, but it is actually a "moral statement" for someone wealthy to wear T-shirts and jeans in public, or eat at Taco Bell and other fast food places. Being modest about one's wealth is actually a form of braggadacio.
The book is breezy and readable, though often annoying for its gonzo style, particularly the constant wisecracks, let alone vulgarity. I didn't care for the chapter about the researched correlation to sports cars and penis size. Here again, the Winds of Woke wafted in, as this was a crack against toxic masculinity. The author overlooks women who can be just as obsessed with power or size (just with other things). Ahem, gold-diggers, social climbers, anyone? He seems to pride himself on his snarky wit.
Nevertheless, the author, while clearly liberal, acknowledges that status is not some Western construct, rather the way of the world. The American version developed following the nation's explosive growth in the late nineteenth century, as written by Thorstein Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class and Vance Packard's Status Seekers. Obviously, his focus is on the secular world, but every culture has its nuances, and even the Orthodox society has its own status symbols--i.e. kollel husbands or sons-in-law, Passover vacations. Like rescue dogs, some of it implies a moral value, placing the owner several notches higher than the common working stiff.
The problem might not be the haves vs. the have-nots; rather, when the have-nots feel entitled to whatever it is the haves have. I came across this book in an article somewhere about the types of possessions that are coveted nowadays; in a way, it makes a good distinction between wants and needs.
Chapters show the evolution of the categories of status: virtual signaling/social justice (i.e. rescue dogs, organic foods, environmentalism); social disruption (i.e. "sticking it" to the upper class, as exemplified by a working-class southern Italian who establishes a successful car factory in the face of snobbish northerners); or health/physical prowess (i.e. male member size). He also debunks the myth of the altruistic philanthropist, showing the modern mania for charities, humanitarian trusts, etc., as ego-fests and tax shelters for the wealthy. The book ends with our current erosion of the traditional WASP hierarchies -- the disappearance or mockery of "Thurston Howell III" types -- and the democratization of luxury. Nowadays, not only have top hats and silk suits gone the way of the dinosaur, but it is actually a "moral statement" for someone wealthy to wear T-shirts and jeans in public, or eat at Taco Bell and other fast food places. Being modest about one's wealth is actually a form of braggadacio.
The book is breezy and readable, though often annoying for its gonzo style, particularly the constant wisecracks, let alone vulgarity. I didn't care for the chapter about the researched correlation to sports cars and penis size. Here again, the Winds of Woke wafted in, as this was a crack against toxic masculinity. The author overlooks women who can be just as obsessed with power or size (just with other things). Ahem, gold-diggers, social climbers, anyone? He seems to pride himself on his snarky wit.
Nevertheless, the author, while clearly liberal, acknowledges that status is not some Western construct, rather the way of the world. The American version developed following the nation's explosive growth in the late nineteenth century, as written by Thorstein Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class and Vance Packard's Status Seekers. Obviously, his focus is on the secular world, but every culture has its nuances, and even the Orthodox society has its own status symbols--i.e. kollel husbands or sons-in-law, Passover vacations. Like rescue dogs, some of it implies a moral value, placing the owner several notches higher than the common working stiff.
The problem might not be the haves vs. the have-nots; rather, when the have-nots feel entitled to whatever it is the haves have. I came across this book in an article somewhere about the types of possessions that are coveted nowadays; in a way, it makes a good distinction between wants and needs.
February 18, 2023
Chuck Thompson presents a short but well referenced account of the current shift
of the perception of luxury, prestige, and status. THE STATUS REVOLUTION traces the hypothesis of status as a chaotic social problem that has evolved and will keep changing as society switches its values. Thompson uses a tongue in cheek wit to explain the paradigm shifts beginning with rescue pups and ending with an analogy of a toothbrush. Although not a stellar surprise, THE STATUS REVOLUTION is an entertaining reminder that society is constantly bombarded by marketing focused to change our consumer views of spending. Also, this book reminds us that we can be easily swayed to believe just about anything. Four cups of Gullibility-I-TEA served with Twinkie Flambé .
of the perception of luxury, prestige, and status. THE STATUS REVOLUTION traces the hypothesis of status as a chaotic social problem that has evolved and will keep changing as society switches its values. Thompson uses a tongue in cheek wit to explain the paradigm shifts beginning with rescue pups and ending with an analogy of a toothbrush. Although not a stellar surprise, THE STATUS REVOLUTION is an entertaining reminder that society is constantly bombarded by marketing focused to change our consumer views of spending. Also, this book reminds us that we can be easily swayed to believe just about anything. Four cups of Gullibility-I-TEA served with Twinkie Flambé .
February 8, 2023
This book dedicates an entire chapter to the author's attempt to find a semi-scientific correlation between a penchant for sports cars and penis size. Said chapter has no connection to the central idea of the book (which sort of evaporates after the author finishes his rant on rescue dogs in the first chapter and only makes a half-hearted attempt to resurface in the closing paragraphs) but contains the happy news that apparently, the gender gap in US academia is a thing of the past. That's pretty much all you need to know.
August 14, 2022
Thank you to Net Galley, Simon & Schuster, and Chuck Thompson for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. I really love the idea of this book and a few chapters were fascinating, especially the conclusion where Thompson predicted a large leisure class in the future, but most of the book is all over the place and is full of tangents that aren’t related to the topic. #netgalley
November 3, 2022
Thanks to Net Galley, Simon & Schuster, and Chuck Thompson for the advanced reading copy. All thoughts are my own.
This was a really insightful look into the state of our world, social classes, with a lookahead to societal changes. I enjoyed Chuck's writing style.
I would recommend this book to amateur anthropologists or those interested in the future of our society.
This was a really insightful look into the state of our world, social classes, with a lookahead to societal changes. I enjoyed Chuck's writing style.
I would recommend this book to amateur anthropologists or those interested in the future of our society.
April 7, 2023
This would’ve been assigned reading in my sociology of pop culture class back in undergrad. The book offered some interesting perspectives and studies. I was familiar with most. Each chapter functions as an independent read. Based on your familiarity with the subjects, I recommend reading select portions.
December 27, 2022
I found this book entertaining, informative, and thought provoking.
The author did a good job in describing the changes is what status means and how it relates to the society.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine
The author did a good job in describing the changes is what status means and how it relates to the society.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine
January 2, 2024
Enjoyed last half of book more than the start... The discussion regarding cars and the creation of the totem pole on Vancouver Island were extremely interesting. Take away qoute,"...while luxury brands may still communicate some amount of monetary advantage, they no longer confer prestige."
January 29, 2023
Several interesting studies
February 22, 2023
Started reasonably strongly but very quickly became meandering and the main thread of the book (if it had one to begin with) was lost.
March 5, 2023
The audiobook version was hard to get through. The narrator’s cadence got on my nerves.
July 12, 2023
Fairly light and entertaining, the nonfiction equivalent of beach/summer reading (no bodices were ripped in the making of this book)...
February 28, 2024
Interesting read and points made
Why is BMW considered luxury when basically any American can obtain one?
Why is BMW considered luxury when basically any American can obtain one?
April 19, 2024
Good despite several errors in fact or in presentation.
March 18, 2023
I’m really starting to get annoyed with how many of the reviews I write that disappear.
This book was interesting, in a very superficial way. Some of the facts that he brought out were germane enough to my life and interesting enough that I’ve shared them with other people. However, he wants to be Malcolm Gladwell, and he’s just not. He’s also not as funny as he thinks he is .
This book was interesting, in a very superficial way. Some of the facts that he brought out were germane enough to my life and interesting enough that I’ve shared them with other people. However, he wants to be Malcolm Gladwell, and he’s just not. He’s also not as funny as he thinks he is .
May 18, 2023
Started off well, and I found it interesting. However, I did not enjoy the way the author wrote toward the end of the book. It was a mix of trying to be politically correct but also making bad jokes.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews