身份的焦虑 (2004)

《身份的焦虑》是一部由艾伦·狄波顿写成的非虚构作品，哈米什·汉密尔顿出版社于2004年发行出版，不久发行权移交到了企鹅出版集团，后者也就是如今的发行商。上海译文出版社有引入中文版本。台湾则由先觉出版社引入。

大致介绍

《身份的焦虑》谈论了许多的现代社会环境下，人们对使自己向社会上层流动的渴望，以及这一渴望被周边人感知下所带来的焦虑。作者艾伦·狄波顿称，长期的对对身份感到的焦虑是任何民主以及在表面上平等主义的社会所不能避免的副产物。作者列举了其认为的身份焦虑的起因如下：

起因：

爱的缺失

精英政治

解决办法：

波希米亚主义

相关影片

关于该书主题的同名纪录片发布于2004年。该纪录片曾经在2008年在美国公共电视网的一些频道上（如波士顿WGBH-TV下数字频道WGBX-TV等）播映过。

Status Anxiety is a nonfiction book by Alain de Botton. It was first published in 2004 by Hamish Hamilton; subsequent publications have been by Penguin Books.

Central thesis

According to De Botton, "status anxiety" is a 21st-century phenomenon which is a result of capitalism, democracy, and an ostensibly egalitarian society, and is prevalent in countries where an inequality in income is evident. Status anxiety can be defined as the constant tension or fear of being perceived as "unsuccessful" by the society in materialistic terms. Today, every individual constantly tries to outsmart the others to climb up the social ladder. The effects of status anxiety can include impulse buying and conspicuous consumption.

Meritocracy is a primary cause of status anxiety. A meritocracy is a society in which only those deemed talented and meritorious will end up at the top of the social ladder. Snobbery, envy, and lovelessness are some other causes of status anxiety.

De Botton first noticed this phenomenon among the wealthy families of America. These Americans had a lavish lifestyle and most of it was just to make those around them feel envious. America had also witnessed the trend of figures who are "famous for being famous". Botton met the American motivational speaker Les Brown to understand how motivational speaking works. He concluded that motivational speakers conducted their speeches to induce status anxiety among individuals. Motivational speaking is based on the idea that "no one is living up to their true potential and everyone has scope for improvement". De Botton challenged this by asking, "What about those who want to achieve but lack the opportunities to do so?"

De Botton lays out the causes of and solutions to status anxiety as follows:

Causes:

Lovelessness

Expectation

Meritocracy

Snobbery

Dependence

Solutions:

Philosophy

Art

Politics

Religion

Bohemianism

Film

A two-hour documentary film about this thesis, also called Status Anxiety and written by Alain de Botton, was released in 2004. A version of it was shown in 2008 on Public Broadcasting Service channels like Boston WGBH-TV's digital channel WGBX-TV in the United States.

Earlier uses of the term

In his 1965 book The Paranoid Style in American Politics, historian Richard Hofstadter used the term "status anxiety" to help explain the origins of the progressive movement, following earlier usage by others. Alain de Botton's use of the term is different.