The Prestige-Prosperity Gap - by Anu Atluru
If the Old American Dream was being able to go from nothing to middle class, the New American Dream is to go from middle class to wealthy, well-respected, and well-known. I could write an entire essay on the “New American Dream,” but for now, I want to talk about a phenomenon I’ve noticed among people chasing it. In an ideal world, prestige and wealth rise hand in hand. But the modern world of ambition is a lot messier. The reality is often a bizarre mismatch where some people find themselves with more of one than the other, sometimes a lot more. Plenty of people are prestige rich, cash poor. And plenty others are cash rich, prestige poor. It’s relative: which do you have more of relative to expectation? You probably know people like this (or maybe this is or was you in a past phase). Note: I am knowingly using prestige, status, and social capital somewhat interchangeably even though they have subtly different meanings. While status is more fleeting than prestige, both can be independe
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