Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 18:26:35 -0400
From: Bob <suannschafer-AT-earthlink.net>
Subject: RE: Sociology or epistemology?


>The world portrayed in DISTINCTION (from my cursory survey anyway) is one of
>universal status-seeking, in which there is nothing that occurs that is not
>part of a ranking system.  The USA is also infamous for status-seeking as
>well ....
>He does make a few mistakes.  I noticed some remarks he made on the
>jazz-freak and the collector, the behavior of collecting, accumulating
>information on recording sessions and performers, etc., is a from of
>status-compensation for those who have devoted themselves to an art form of
>low prestige: it's a way of making themselves more high class by organizing
>and flaunting their own expertise in their subject.  Now I can see the logic
>behind this; I'm sure such things could and do happen, but at the end of the
>day I don't believe it.  Then again, I'm one of the people he describes.
>However, I don't observe our people behaving that way at all, even in a
>hustler society like the USA.  I see just the opposite, that it is because
>of people's intrinsic love for what they feel is valuable, they go the extra
>mile, excercising their own form of creativity, irrespective of low status,
>to show their love for things that really matter, because of those who gave
>of themselves much more than anyone could have demanded because they knew
>what was at stake for humanity.

I'm interested in this example and your insightful counter to it, given, as
another example, Andy Warhol's mania for collecting cookie jars.


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