>Why do men strive for status and money? Lovelessness; Because money and status is a proxy for love from friends and would-be lovers that we crave: “The predo

>Why do men strive for status and money? Lovelessness; Because money and status is a proxy for love from friends and would-be lovers that we crave: “The predominant impulse behind our desire to rise in the social hierarchy may be rooted not so much in the material goods we can accrue or the power we can wield as in the amount of love we stand to receive as a consequence of high status. Money, fame and influence may be valued more as tokens of—and means to—love rather than ends in themselves.” Snobbery; Because underneath small talk amongst casual social situations underlies a constant of "sizing up" and civilized snobbery: “The company of the snobbish has the power to enrage and unnerve because we sense how little of who we are deep down—that is, how little of who we are outside of our status—will be able to govern their behaviour towards us. We may be endowed with the wisdom of Solomon and have the resourcefulness and intelligence of Odysseus, but if we are unable to wield socially recognized badges of our qualities, our existence will remain a matter of raw indifference to them” Outsized expectations; Because meritocracy, "American Dream" doesn't empower people; rather statistically forces us to confront the mediocrity of our ordinariness of lives, while feeling anxious about alleged "wasted potential" : "In aristocracies, servants often accepted their position with good grace; it was not impossible for them to harbour, in Tocqueville’s words, 'high thoughts, strong pride and self-respect.' In democracies, by contrast, the propaganda of the press and public opinion relentlessly promised servants that they, too, could reach the pinnacles of society and make their fortune as industrialists, judges, scientists or even presidents. Although this sense of unbounded opportunity could initially excite a surface cheerfulness in them—particularly in the younger ones—and though it did encourage the most talented or luckiest among them to fulfill their goals, as time passed and the majority failed to raise themselves, Tocqueville’s noted that their mood darkened, bitterness took hold of and choked their spirit, and their hatred of themselves and their masters grew fierce.” - Alain de Botton. “Status Anxiety”