Having identified the causes and manifestations of status anxiety, de
Botton goes on to ask whether these ideals of society’s attitude
towards the rich and privileged can be overturned. He explains that
there is a history of overturning what Karl Marx identified as
“ideologies” – ideas that seem to be true and immutable, but are in
fact lies. These lies, once dictated by the ruling classes and religion
to maintain the status quo, are now disseminated in our modern society
by the power of the press, telling us what we should buy, how we can be
popular, and mercilessly pouncing on failure. He takes the case of John
Ruskin, an opponent of Victorian values, who challenged the desire for
the accumulation of wealth and achieved real political changes. Looking
at other examples of people who live alternative lifestyles – the
Bloomsbury Group, naturists, bohemians and hippies – he shows that
living according to your own values and not those dictated by
conventional attitudes has given us all the independence and freedoms
we have today to make our own choices.
De Botton’s proposals for how we can achieve a simpler, anxiety-free
life – citing Marcus Aurelius, Schopenhauer, Dutch Art and a
“stimulating” meditation on Death - are perhaps a little esoteric and
far removed from popular positive affirmations of self-help books, but
consistent with the views expressed in The Art of Travel – it’s all a matter of attitude and putting one’s life into perspective. However, like The Art of Travel,
de Botton also lightens proceedings with nice touches of humour,
without ever talking down or cheapening the material. To gauge the
power of the media to make people feel inadequate and society’s view of
failure, for example, he visits the Daily Sport office and gets them to
write headlines for famous mythological and literary social
transgressors, Madame Bovary, Othello and Oedipus (“Sex With Mum Was
Blinding!”). It effectively proves his point in a familiar and humorous
way.
