In episode two, Alain de Botton explores how our anxieties about our status affect almost every aspect of our everyday lives, from our relationships with others, to our feelings about ourselves

In the final episode, de Botton offers some ideas on how our status ideals might be changed, in order to enable enable us to lead deeper, richer, and ultimately, more satisfied lives.

Status anxiety is the pernicious worry about the danger of failing to conform to ideals of success laid down by society. We’re anxious because our self-concept is dependent on what others make of us. Why is this?