"Subtly altered how I see the world." —Michelle Goldberg, New York Times

“[Status and Culture] consistently posits theories I'd never previously considered that instantly feel obvious.” —Chuck Klosterman, author of The Nineties

“Why are you the way that you are? Status and Culture explains nearly everything about the things you choose to be—and how the society we live in takes shape in the process.” —B.J. Novak, writer and actor

Solving the long-standing mysteries of culture—from the origin of our tastes and identities, to the perpetual cycles of fashions and fads—through a careful exploration of the fundamental human desire for status

All humans share a need to secure their social standing, and this universal motivation structures our behavior, forms our tastes, determines how we live, and ultimately shapes who we are. We can use status, then, to explain why some things become “cool,” how stylistic innovations arise, and why there are constant changes in clothing, music, food, sports, slang, travel, hairstyles, and even dog breeds.

In Status and Culture, W. David Marx weaves together the wisdom from history, psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, philosophy, linguistics, semiotics, cultural theory, literary theory, art history, media studies, and neuroscience to demonstrate exactly how individual status seeking creates our cultural ecosystem. Marx examines three fundamental questions: Why do individuals cluster around arbitrary behaviors and take deep meaning from them? How do distinct styles, conventions, and sensibilities emerge? Why do we change behaviors over time and why do some behaviors stick around? The answers then provide new perspectives for understanding the seeming “weightlessness” of internet culture.      

Status and Culture is a book that will appeal to business people, students, creators, and anyone who has ever wondered why things become popular, why their own preferences change over time, and how identity plays out in contemporary society. Readers of this book will walk away with deep and lasting knowledge of the often secret rules of how culture really works.

An examination of how we achieve social status by what we consume and how that affects the culture as a whole

Contrary to belief, status signaling isn't just the provenance of the immature or insecure, but a fundamental human need to secure social standing. It drives our behavior, forms our tastes, sets what we buy, and ultimately, determines who we are. It's what's behind "cool," and what drives fashion, music, food, sports, slang, travel, hairstyles, and dog breeds-and even the outsized influence of unpopular things with the "right" audience. In Status and Culture, W. David Marx weaves together history, psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, philosophy, linguistics, semiotics, cultural theory, literary theory, art history, media studies, and neuroscience to reveal for the first time the inner workings of status. While there have been some explorations in the past about how status needs affect our individual behavior, Status and Culture seeks to go one step deeper and link the behavior of individuals to the formation of our broader culture, at the exact time that the Internet is changing human society in ways that only the concept of status can explain. Marx examines three fundamental questions: Why do individuals cluster around arbitrary behaviors and take deep meaning from them? How do distinct styles, conventions, and sensibilities emerge? Why do we change behaviors over time and why do some behaviors stick around?



Status and Culture is a book that will appeal to business people, students, artists, and anyone who has ever wondered why things become popular or why they often feel pressured to go against their personal tastes. The reader will leave the book with an understanding of the general rules that can be applied to everyday life and feel empowered by better appreciating the effect of social influence on their choices.

Praise for W. David Marx's Ametora:

“Wholly intriguing… an important contribution to readers' understanding of cultural authenticity, the use of branding in media to sell consumer goods, and how representations of masculinity and rebellion evolve in the consumer marketplace.”
—Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)

“A fascinating cultural history.”
—People

“Japan's exalted status in the fashion department seems like a given now—even non-sartorially inclined folks likely know Japanese brands like Comme des Garçons and Uniqlo or could recognize the trendy look of the Harajuku neighborhood. But perhaps less well-known is the fascinating decades-long dialogue between American and Japanese men's fashion that Marx skillfully explores here…It's riveting to follow as men swap their austere student uniforms from Japan's imperialist days for chicer garb, no longer ashamed to care about style.”
—Entertainment Weekly

“Mr. Marx writes with the understanding of how rich his material is. The scenes and the style trends in his book are not only interesting but often absurd.”
—Wall Street Journal

“In a step-by-step account, Mr. Marx traces the history of this cross-cultural sartorial phenomenon, from the Brooks Brothers-influenced ‘Ivy League' look introduced by the fashion magnate Kensuke Ishizu in 1959 all the way up to Tokyo's neo-traditionalist designers of recent years.”
—The New York Times, Men's Style section

"Uniqlo. Visvim. Comme des Garçons. Ever wonder why some of Japan's preeminent fashion houses produce blue jeans, penny loafers, and cashmere sweaters? Historian W. David Marx looks into the phenomenon in his new book that explores the cross-pollination between American style and Japanese taste."
—Vogue.com

“A fascinating, finely-observed, highly readable history of the wonderfully unlikely rescue of iconic 20th Century American menswear by the Japanese who loved it when we no longer did. I had of course been aware that this had happened, but had never expected to see it reconstructed by a cultural historian of W. David Marx's very evident skill.”
—William Gibson, author of Neuromancer and The Peripheral