I am currently reading a philosophy book titled Status Anxiety and came across a few passages which I like to share because I think many of us who live in Hong Kong can relate to this at some point of our lives. First of all, ask yourself whether you have Status Anxiety? ... My answer to this question is: of course I do.
Over the last several centuries, particularly the last several decades, most developed societies enjoyed "an extraordinary increase in wealth, in food supply, in scientific knowledge, in consumer goods, in physical security, in life expectancy and economic opportunity." However, with such material advances, there is "a rise in the level of status anxiety" among us , "a rise in the level of concern about importance, achievement and income." The author further explains that:
In my opinion, Hong Kong i a breeding ground for Status Anxiety in a massive scale - even worst than the US. For some odd reasons I still do know understand, many people carry the perception that Hong Kong allows the generation of unlimited expectation. Don't get me wrong, such expectation can be a positive motivational engine to attain greater achievement in life; however, it can also be a factor behind the increased level of status anxiety among us. Solution? I am not that far in the book yet but this is certainly something worth reflecting on. Now, ask yourself again, do you have Status Anxiety?
Over the last several centuries, particularly the last several decades, most developed societies enjoyed "an extraordinary increase in wealth, in food supply, in scientific knowledge, in consumer goods, in physical security, in life expectancy and economic opportunity." However, with such material advances, there is "a rise in the level of status anxiety" among us , "a rise in the level of concern about importance, achievement and income." The author further explains that:
A sharp decline in actual deprivation may - paradoxically - have been accompanied by a continuing and even increased sense of deprivation and a fear of it ... These feeling of deprivation may not look so peculiar ... [because] ... our sense of an appropriate limit to anything - for example, to wealth and esteem - is never decided independently. It is arrived at by comparing our condition with that of a reference group, with that of people we consider to be our equals. We cannot appreciate what we have in isolation, or judge against lives of our medieval forebears. We cannot be impressed by how prosperous we are in historical terms. We will take ourselves to be fortunate only when we have as much as, or a little more than, the people we grew up with, work alongside, have as friends and identify with in the public realm.
... If we have a pleasant home and a comfortable job, however, but learn through ill-advised attendance at a school reunion that some of our old friends (there is no stronger reference group) are now living in houses larger than our own, bought on the proceeds of more enticing occupations, we are likely to return home nursing a violent sense of misfortunate.
... It is the feeling that we might be something other than what we are - a feeling transmitted by the superior achievements of those we take to be our equals - that generates anxiety and resentment.
In my opinion, Hong Kong i a breeding ground for Status Anxiety in a massive scale - even worst than the US. For some odd reasons I still do know understand, many people carry the perception that Hong Kong allows the generation of unlimited expectation. Don't get me wrong, such expectation can be a positive motivational engine to attain greater achievement in life; however, it can also be a factor behind the increased level of status anxiety among us. Solution? I am not that far in the book yet but this is certainly something worth reflecting on. Now, ask yourself again, do you have Status Anxiety?
The above excerpts are from Alain de Botton's Status Anxiety, Chapter on the Equality, Expectation and Envy. (Penguin Books, 2005)Photo from http://www.alaindebotton.com/
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