Love and Social Hierarchy

Posted by Steve Marshall Follow me on Twitter

Many thanks to friend and colleague Veronica Scheubel for sending us this video (16:52) of Alain de Botton describing a 'kinder, gentler philosophy of success.'

Alain talks about the contradictions and paradoxes that surround ideas like love, meritocracy, snobbery, self-esteem, equality and envy.  We are told that, in a world that supports the spirit of equality, anyone can rise to the top yet those who fail to make the grade are seen as 'losers'. He asks us to be less judgemental of each other, noting the frequently random, haphazard nature of success or failure. 

De Botton reminds us that we can't have it all and that we need to recognise areas where we cannot succeed. Critically, he claims is that we should make sure that our ideas of success are our own, rather than criteria that are 'sucked in' from parents, media and materialist society.