Economic growth does not equalize status, and rising wealth only raises entry bars

Evidence

Status is thus not just personal but political. “Society,” writes Daniel Miller, “is not to be understood in terms of a simple hierarchy, but as a continual struggle over the hierarchy of hierarchies.” Status is an ordinal ranking, and so even if the economic pie expands and material benefits increase for much of society, this doesn’t equalize status in society. In fact, an overall increase in wealth only raises the bar for the capital required to gain status. Alternative status groups enable the status-disadvantaged to find new sources of status, but members may still worry about their global ranking. … The constant struggles among status groups play a major role in the human experience—and, as we’ll see later, fuel the creation of new culture. — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 104

Categorization

• SEED: Clean counterintuitive hook for a piece on why prosperity fails to reduce status anxiety.
• XREF: connects to: Heightened competition redistributed income upward despite energizing growth — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity: An…, 1046; Post-reform Indian economic growth concentrated wealth in few hands; Matching income and asset characteristics halves but does not close the racial wealth gap. — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax…, 502 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Scarce advancement makes prosperity a zero-sum positional good #expands (0.85)
• Closing the income gap alone would not close the wealth gap #corroborates (0.82) — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth, 485
• Post-reform Indian economic growth concentrated wealth in few hands #exemplifies (0.80)
• Heightened competition redistributed income upward despite energizing growth #corroborates (0.78) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 1046
• Educational expansion and reduced prejudice have not increased economic opportunity or mobility #corroborates (0.78) — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America, 845
• Matching income and asset characteristics halves but does not close the racial wealth gap. #corroborates (0.75) — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth, 502
• Unchecked administrative growth and wealth produce bureaucratic iron cages and oligarchy #expands (0.72) — The Friends of Attention, Attensity!, 224