Alain de Botton, the most-read philosopher alive, has decided to answer some questions about his wonderful book Status Anxiety. The book focuses on the anxiety prevalent in many modern societies to be ...

Crossroads, by Jonathan Franzen. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 592 pages. $30. The first half of Jonathan Franzen’s new novel, Crossroads, centers on an improbable church youth group in the near western ...

Women who feel status anxiety in an uncertain economy are more likely to enhance their appearance to get ahead. Economic inequality can inspire aggressive competition between men trying to assert ...

Recently, a female physician we know shared an experience she had while considering taking a faculty position at a new institution: She had been communicating with the faculty chairperson for months ...

Robert K. Henderson is a doctoral candidate in psychology at St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge who has written extensively on social class. He recently spoke with City Journal associate editor Daniel ...

The boom in rail transit construction in cities across America draws strength from several sources. Developers of urban real estate like rail lines because they make their properties more valuable.

Mr. Edsall contributes a weekly column from Washington, D.C., on politics, demographics and inequality. What is the role of status discontent in the emergence of right-wing populism? If it does play a ...

What if the very thing that drives us to succeed is the same thing that keeps us from being happy? The Rosebud Phenomenon offers a powerful lens through which we can understand this paradox. Borrowing ...

It’s been nearly two months since the election, and Democrats and leftists still haven’t settled down. The campus safe spaces and cry-ins immediately after the votes were counted were bad enough. But ...

During the 2020 presidential campaign, Joe Biden talked about restoring the soul of the nation. After the networks had projected him to be the winner, the president-elect said, “It’s time to put away ...

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