The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It

by Will Storr

Open the door, step out of it, and there it is: the world in all its hustle and wonder.

Once we’ve been accepted into a group, we strive to achieve their approval and acclaim.

‘Along with status comes better food, more abundant territory, superior health care.’ It leads to greater access to preferred mates and ‘bestows on children social opportunities’ that youngsters

Wherever we connect with like-minded others, the game will be on: at work, online, on the sports field, at the volunteer centre, in the club, park or activist collective – even at home. The minimum requirement for play is connection. Before we can be rewarded with status, we must first be accepted into the group as a player.

Most billionaires become billionaires, in part, because they’re monstrously competitive. They may be extroverts who, writes Nettle, ‘tend to be ambitious’ and ‘are prepared to work very hard in pursuit of fame or money’. Even

Privilege is an explosive notion. As we’ve learned, humans are designed to be maddened by others they experience as prancing about above them, their status unfair and on display. Resentment pricks us into desiring to pull them down, whether by social distancing, mockery, humiliation, ostracization or execution.

tyrants don’t succeed by telling people they’re wrong. Instead, they start by saying what we already believe. Their arguments make moral sense.

Exactly what is happening with ruling party in India.