Purely as a distraction from Trumpy’s [bleep] Show this college admissions scandal is the bomb. Even if at the reptilian psychological roots of this episode we can’t help but be reminded of The Orange One and his base of sad, true believers.
The heart of this particular scandal is the insatiable human yearning for status. It really is essential evolutionary biology. Higher status gives you and yours a better chance of survival and passing on your genetic material. Every study you can find is chock full of statistics showing that with higher status comes higher levels of self-satisfaction and greater distance from psychologically and physically harm.
Here’s a paragraph from Adam Waytz at Scientific American: “[Psychologist PJ Henry at DePaul University’s] theory is based on a considerable psychological literature demonstrating that individuals from low-status groups (e.g. ethnic minorities) tend to engage in more vigilant psychological self-protection than those from high-status groups. Low-status people are much more sensitive to being socially rejected and are more inclined to monitor their environment for threats. Because of this vigilance toward protecting their sense of self-worth, low-status individuals are quicker to respond violently to personal threats and insults. … To provide evidence that tendencies for psychological self-protection were the crucial critical link between status and violence, Henry assessed survey data from over 1,500 Americans. In this nationally representative sample, low-socioeconomic status (low-SES) individuals reported far more psychological defensiveness in terms of considering themselves more likely to be taken advantage of and trusting people less.”
In other words, the lower you perceive your status to be the generally angrier and more irrational and defensive your become, as well as more prone to self-destructive behavior.
There’s also this from a Science Daily piece: “The strongest test of the hypothesis is whether the possession of low status negatively impacts health. The studies reviewed showed that people who had low status in their communities, peer groups, or in their workplaces suffer more from depression, chronic anxiety, and even cardiovascular disease. Individuals who fall lower on the status hierarchy, or what the authors call the ‘community ladder’, feel less respected and valued and more ignored by others.”
But the crowd getting rounded up in this college admission scandal — parts of which I’m still trying to get my head around — are people who already have high status. A couple Hollywood actresses, high-powered lawyers, CEOs. That part of it is what makes it so irresistibly rich.
Also the part about the “Instagram influencer” daughters.
I mean, what is going with someone who can afford $6 million bucks to game the admissions system? As a naked out-front contribution slapped into the hand of some Dean $6 million should be enough to grease the skids for even the worst doofus off-spring. At least one of the “top” schools in the country would find a spot for the little loser.
So you start thinking the issue then has to be that the high status parent has become so accustom to the privileges of status that being told “no” by the school they absolutely must get into is inconceivable. “No” imperils status. There could be a slip on a rung of the great status ladder. What if word got out that little Jimmy Dimwit didn’t get into … Stanford, Yale or USC? How tongues would wag at the country club! Therefore, bribes must be paid. The system must be gamed. Unimpeachable status must be reaffirmed!
The ludicrous lengths humans will go to assert status in any situation is so basic it’s the stuff of thousands of years of satire. You think of the preening foppery of the post-renaissance courts, the millions of scenes, stories and jokes about hapless guys making fools of themselves trying to impress girls, and women at a “peer lunch” squeezing in thinly-masked assertions of greater-status-than-thou … be it over vacations, fashion accessories or the sheer damn brilliance of their children.
It’s the Great Human Theater and a lot of life wouldn’t be as entertaining without it. Hell, the advertising industry — and the fashion industry, the automobile industry, the cosmetics industry, the monster house industry and on and on — would collapse if we somehow stuck a needle in everyone’s brain and extracted the status hunger gene. So who’s surprised it’s a part of the college admissions industry?
But as I say, the comedy in this particular situation is that these are people of already indisputably high, substantial status who are revealed to be (criminally) desperate to preserve that status and pass it on.
You gotta laugh.
It’s just another episode that reminds me of the classic Homer Simpson – Montgomery Burns moment.
Homer: “Mr. Burns, you’re the richest man in the world. You OWN EVERYTHING!”
Mr. Burns: “Ah yes, but I’d give it all up for just a little bit more.”
See, the thing about status is that it is a relative thing, not an absolute measure. And, of course, what is it that you feel towards your “betters” (those above you)? Resentment. Because they really aren’t better than you. What have they got that you don’t have?
And why do all those who are motivated by resentment love Trump so much? Its not like he’s one of them, is it? No, but he is still motivated by the same feelings of resentment, he expresses those feelings of resentment constantly, and his supporters love it! Libruls all think they are better than us, City folk all think they are better than us, etc., etc., etc. But at least we are better than the Mexicans!!! (and Trump certainly gets that).
You’re of course right. The measure of status is in everyone’s head, and it’s crazy. I keep thinking of the guy I ran into at some cowboy bar, in Texas if I remember. He was maybe 40, looking healthy and had parked a shiny new F-250 outside before sitting down and talking — to the bartender — about the hunting trip he was heading off on with his pals. Soon though he was bellyaching about some Hollywood celebrity in the news for ripping Trump, and complaining about the “privileged assholes” who were somehow damaging his life. I couldn’t help but wonder if this guy ever really wanted to be anything more than he was — a reasonably prosperous rancher living out in the fresh air and wide-open spaces, huntin’ with his buddies and enjoying an hour of day-drinking on his own clock. I didn’t see anyone repressing his deep desire to be a hedge fund trader or an oil baron. But the combination of status competition and an ambient culture of grievance had him all knotted up. Dude! Take a deep breath. Enjoy what you have!
You’ve provided some really interesting information about studies on how social status affects perceived well being. It reminds me of something I read years ago about baboons in the wild. The high status (dominant) baboons raise offspring who themselves became dominant, and the low status baboons raise offspring who are never able to rise above their original station. Much of the reason for this is due to lower status offspring never learning the ways to express higher status (body language, vocalizations, aggressive behaviors, etc.) I’m guessing this is common across many species of social mammals, and of course we see it played out in human groups.
Our societal policies do sometimes seem to gesture at subverting this hierarchical stasis, but I think we’ve entered into a period in which such gestures will be less and less forthcoming. Meanwhile, those in the middle or at the bottom can take some comfort when the high status people get nailed for wrongdoing — that’s probably good for a few minor dopamine rushes, I’m guessing, something which the baboons will never enjoy.
I think I’ve mentioned I’m a fan of Yuval Harari’s books — his thinking on evolution and speculation about how we evolve from here. He and others have made the point that humans are the rare species that can fake status … constantly. Pretty much everyone of us can puff ourselves up, make outrageous claims to superiority, lease a stupidly expensive car, buy a convincing knock-off of an $800 purse and on … and on … and on. It’s so absurdly prevalent it’s almost like … what we do.
All of which brings us back, full circle, to two noted fabulators, Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos–apparently there is a great documentary coming out) and DJT.