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All my life I have been fascinated by how people pursue and signal status. Interestingly though, there do not seem to be many books written on this subject. Please do recommend if you are aware of any that touch upon, conspicuous consumption, status signalling etc.


Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste

My terrible summing up would be that the book explores the way "status" can be hoarded across generations.


My two favorites, and I think they're a complementary pair, both published recently (2021)...

* The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It by (the best-selling author) Will Storr

* Status Games: Why We Play and How to Stop by Loretta Graziano Breuning


I have to read that second book just because the author has my name


Class: A Guide Through the American Status System by Paul Fussell


The Elephant in the Brain, Kevin Simler & Robin Hanson


The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions (1899), by Thorstein Veblen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_the_Leisure_Clas...


Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style

Capital Vols 1&2

Graeber: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/david-graeber-the-ve...


Status-as-a-service

https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2019/2/19/status-as-a-service


I recommend Andreas Reckwitz: The Society of Singularities. It changed the way I look at society. At its core is a very broad concept of status called singularities (at least that is my understanding)


Theory of the Leisure Class by Veblen (of Veblen Goods fame)


Both the introduction and the “Status” chapter of Keith Johnstone’s Impro book will interest you greatly.




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