Status Seekers [Paperback]

Vance packard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1969

IS AMERICA A CLASSLESS SOCIETY?

No! says best-selling author Vance Packard in this scorching investigation of the status and class structure of our society.

The car you drive, the church you attend, where you went to school, the house you live in---even your choice of words---are brandings of your place in society. This is your status---and you me be stuck with it, like it or not.

The author minces no words in letting the reader know exactly who he is, how he measures up, where he is likely to go---and where, because of society's harsh rules, he is not likely to go.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Pocket (April 15, 1969)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671771159
• ISBN-13: 978-0671771157
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #677,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tom Wolfe mentioned this book in a Charlotte Simmons interview, May 18, 2010

By 

Brian Edwards "DollTV" (Chiang Rai, Thailand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Status Seekers (Hardcover)

A previous reviewer notes that the book is dated. It's true that comments about televisions (When you next see Oliver Stone's Wall Street, check out the tv in Bud Fox's NYC penthouse...) and ranch houses are a bit dated, but the book shows that the craving for status and acceptance simply doesn't change. The book was published in 1949, and with a little imagination one can easily replaced dated status symbols with contemporary ones. The author's findings regarding ethnic and religious groups is interesting, too, but I won't spoil the surprise. Funny to view these observations 61 years after they were published. Enjoy!

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dated, but interesting, June 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Status Seekers (Hardcover)

I was not entirely startled by how important a role class played in the 50s (two decades before my birth) but this was eye-opening in some ways - it seems that status played a larger role in peoples' lives then. Packard does a wonderful job of documenting all of this and it is certainly more interesting than your average sociological research book. Some of it is quite dated, some is still relevant, but overall it presents a good look at how life was 40 years ago. Recommended, if you can track down a copy.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost as true today..., September 13, 2006

By 

porkchop (Richmond, VA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Status Seekers: An Exploration of Class Behavior in America and the Hidden Barriers That Affect You, Your Community, Your Future. (Hardcover)

I read this because Tobias Wolff mentioned it in This Boy's Life. He was exactly right about it. It is a manual for changing your class.

Since social class is basically a secret in the United States, it doesn't change very much -- the basic structure is pretty well intact since 1960. The list of prep schools he names, the hierarchy of religions; they're still valid.

He has some pretty powerful inights. For example, he predicted that, in the future (today) the major qualification for wage jobs would be the ability to endure boredom. GOOD CALL.

He says things about some groups (women, Jews...) that are a bit appalling in a modern context, but do paint a picture of the fifties that's worth pondering (this is not that long ago, after all).

His observations about the changing nature of business are very interesting.