The Status Revolution: The Improbable Story of How the Lowbrow Became the Highbrow

by Chuck Thompson

Overview

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 that “will be hard for pop-culture readers to put down” (Booklist).

Status was once easy to identify—fast cars, fancy shoes, sprawling estates, elite brands. But in place of Louboutin’s and Lamborghinis, the relevance of the rich, famous, and gauche is waning and a riveting revolution is underfoot.

Chuck Thompson—dubbed “savagely funny” by The New York Times and “wickedly entertaining” by the San Francisco Chronicle—sets out to determine what “status” means today and learns that what was once considered the low life has become the high life. In Status Revolution, Thompson 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, DC, meeting of the “Patriotic Millionaires,” a club of high-earners who are 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 than it is about flash and indulgence; to a London lab where the neural secrets of status are being unlocked.

“Chock-full of shocking revelations” (In Touch Weekly) and 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476764955
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	01/30/2024
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	1,131,393
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 5.50(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Chuck Thompson is the author of the widely reviewed political screed Better Off Without ‘Em: A Northern Manifesto for Southern Secession, as well as the comic memoirs Smile When You’re Lying and To Hellholes and Back. His writing has appeared in Outside, Politico, Esquire, Men’s Journal, The New Republic, and many other publications.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Status in Chaos 1

1 The woman who invented rescue dogs: Status as Virtue Signaling 15

2 A Rich yet Tasteful History: Status as Vice 37

3 Music, wine, and sex appeal: Status as Neurological Imperative 55

4 Sports cars and small penises: Status as Inclusivity 79

5 The King of Comfort: Status as Social Justice 103

6 Luxury at the end of the world: Status as Authenticity 131

7 Rebels of Philanthropy: Status as Disruption 165

8 Fitzgerald was wrong: Status as Egalitarianism 189

Conclusion: Status Reborn 213

Acknowledgments 219

Notes 223

Index 253

Editorial Reviews

Witty and incisive ... an entertaining and intelligent eye-opener.” —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“A very funny, surprisingly far-reaching attempt to determine what status means.” —MEN'S JOURNAL

“[Status Revolution] is chock-full of fascinating revelations.” —IN TOUCH WEEKLY

"This will be hard for pop-culture readers to put down." —BOOKLIST

“Thompson is an insightful, wry observer of our times, with a cynical eye for the most foolish of human follies.” —KIRKUS REVIEWS

“A spirited and thoughtful exploration of Big Status, with plenty of laughs and mind-bending revelations along the way. Thompson is that perfect combo of dogged reporter and enthusiastic tour guide, with a healthy dose of contrarian wit. In The Status Revolution, he connects disparate industries and unusual characters in the fun—and always surprising—way that makes him one of my all-time favorites.”
—Sarah Knight, bestselling author of The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck

"Chuck Thompson has tackled this slippery and ineffable topic with great aplomb, emerging with a book that is well-reasoned, beautifully paced, and a whole lot of fun. I feel improved."
—Henry Alford, author of And Then We Danced

"Fusing cultural anthropology, cutting-edge neuroscience and an impressive knowledge of Ferrari interior car design, Thompson has written a highly original book that is both eye-opening and hilarious. This is one writer who can keep a lot of balls in the air."
—Joe Queenan, Wall Street Journal columist and author of Closing Time

“Buckle up and enjoy the hilariously curious, fact-packed global quest to understand why human beings still insist on outranking each other, from brain scientists to small-penis sports cars, purebred dogs, hiphop video directors, nudist hippie totem carvers, philanthropic tax evasion, and fame survivor Rick Springfield.”
—Jack Boulware, co-founder of Litquake

From the Publisher

2022-10-18
As U.S. society reconfigures itself, Thompson provides a map to the emerging territory.

There are two competing instincts in human psychology: to be a part of a group and to be different than others. At the overlap of these forces is the search for status, which is the concern of Thompson, who has made a solid career out of skewering the pompous and witless in comic memoirs such as Smile When You’re Lying and To Hellholes and Back. The author sees a fundamental change underway as the link between status and wealth breaks down. His interest was first piqued when he encountered well-off people boasting of having a rescue mutt instead of a purebred dog. The message was that they were someone with an enlightened mind and a generous spirit, capable of disdaining the traditional trappings of affluence. It’s a show to claim status, and the animal is just a prop. “Perform a gallant act. Broadcast it. That’s virtue signaling in a dog biscuit,” writes Thompson. Looking around, he finds this sort of theater everywhere, from the organic foods that the “virtuous” favor to the fashionably battered clothes they wear. Part of this is due to the proliferation—and therefore devaluation—of items that were once marks of wealth (designer handbags and shoes, etc.), and part of it is due to the millennial generation getting older. There is an endless search for “authenticity,” notes the author, which often means traveling to exotic locations in order to post pictures on social media. Thompson, in his droll way, has a good time with all of this, so it is a shame that he often wanders off the point. The long section on luxury cars, for example, fails to connect with the rest of the narrative. However, he provides plenty of intriguing observations and comments, making the book an entertaining read.

Thompson is an insightful, wry observer of our times, with a cynical eye for the most foolish of human follies.

Kirkus Reviews