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

Written by:
Will Storr
Narrated by:
Will Storr

Unabridged Audiobook

Ratings
Book
2
Narrator
2
Release Date
September 2021
Duration
11 hours 1 minute
Summary
‘Will Storr is one of our best journalists of ideas … The Status Game might be his best yet’ James Marriott, Books of the Year, The Times



What drives our political and moral beliefs? What makes us like some things and dislike others? What shapes how we behave, and misbehave, in groups? What makes you, you?



For centuries, philosophers and scholars have described human behaviour in terms of sex, power and money. In The Status Game, bestselling author Will Storr radically turns this thinking on its head by arguing that it is our irrepressible craving for status that ultimately defines who we are.


From the era of the hunter-gatherer to today, when we exist as workers in the globalised economy and citizens of online worlds, the need for status has always been wired into us. A wealth of research shows that how much of it we possess dramatically affects not only our happiness and wellbeing but also our physical health – and without sufficient status, we become more ill, and live shorter lives. It’s an unconscious obsession that drives the best and worst of us: our innovation, arts and civilisation as well as our murders, wars and genocides. But why is status such an all-consuming prize? What happens if it’s taken away from us? And how can our unquenchable thirst for it explain cults, moral panics, conspiracy theories, the rise of social media and the ‘culture wars’ of today?


On a breathtaking journey through time and culture, The Status Game offers a sweeping rethink of human psychology that will change how you see others – and how you see yourself.
Reviews
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Stevemcd

The book’s main thesis is that humans through hundreds of thousands of years of evolution in hunter gatherer tribes are conditioned to join groups and then try to excel within those groups, to secure a long survival. Or to put in simple modern terms we naturally try to “get along and get ahead”. How we strive to be of value (or “get ahead) within our groups Storr frames playfully as “status games”. Mapped to my own experiences in life most if not all of Will’s theories ring true. It’s the kind of book where you feel like someone is articulating something you have always suspected to be true but didn’t have the slightest clue how to express it much less even pursue the thought. Perfectly read by the author himself. Highly recommended for all human beings living amongst other human beings.

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Jem F.

I found this book interesting. Will Storr pulls together a lot of disparate research and specific historical details to craft his story, but it is just that- a story and not a novel one, but one we have heard many times before in the dominant western academic paradigm. There is a lot left out and I recommend readers/listeners balance this book with, 'The Dawn of Everything' by anthropologist David Graeber and archaeologist David Wengrow. They point out the pitfalls of these types of dominant Euro-based narratives and viewpoints using archaeological evidence and wide-ranging anthropological research to re-frame the 'story'. Also- for sensitive readers/listeners there is, in my opinion, way too much unnecessary macabre detail in parts. An astute reader will get the point very quickly without a full list of horrors which, again in my opinion, are not very much related to the thesis of the story anyway. This was my first ever audio book and I enjoyed having it narrated by the author- nice touch.

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