3.

Moving towards new forms

of social success
John'W. Leigh, TA
Southem Illinois University at Carbondale

Oct.22,2008

Abstract:
Social success is something of an enigma. Its source, or indeed, what it actually is, has
escaped generations of thinkers and academics. From the bourgeois figure of the 18th and
19th century literature, through to the soft-winner of the 2000s,iociety;s ideal of success has
changed a great deal, and this evolution shows no signs of abating.

Keywords:
Social success, soft-winner, social ideal, bourgeois, legitimation, cultural studies

American Sociologt Research Review, vol.l, nov. 2008 - CUP Draft N"3
 Social success historically borrows from several sources. It's all a question of a
subjective, evolutionary, and eminently cultural perspectivet. ln some societies,
social success is even effectuated through a transformation of the body: some will
display the opulence of their household by flaunting the portliness of their form2;
others still will set themselves apart from the working class (at least those who
work outdoors) by staying in the shade, preserving their paleness.

Closer to home, the capitalist system for the production of wealth has also
generated multiple ways of displaying success. Thus, the "bourgeois" figure is
ubiquitous in lSth and 19th century literature3. This last point imposes its stature
through the weight of political responsibility (from paternalism to electoral
engagement) and through the expression of a certain ostentationa with the invention
of "luxury", which was not at the time an industry in itself. This is also a success
which inherits from itself, and assesses itself in terms of "patrimony".

In the 1980s, a new archetypal figure of success gradually emerged, notably once
globalization of the economy and "financialisation" took hold: that of the arrogant
traders, shamelessly flaunting his quickly earned fortune with little ethical qualms.
He conjures up the image of the trading robot6 (or the "raider" in the words of
Edward Lewis), ultra adapted to the system he serves, embodying the high-flying
"winner", with a toned physique, prepared for any moral, familial or social sacrifice
necessary to secure the lifestyle characterised by his excesses. This kind of success
does not spawn further success, quite the contrary: it is the kingdom of quickly
earned money. And quickly spent: the benchmark is no longer patrimony, but rather

l Marshal Shalins, Culture and Practical Reason University Of Chicago Press (February
15, 1978)
2
Evans-Pritchard's Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande Oxford University
Press, (June24,1976)
3
Revolution and reaction in nineteenth century French literature, Georg Morris Cohen
Brandes, Russell & Russell (1960)
a
Beckert, S 2001 "Propertied of Different Kind: Bourgeoisie and Lower Middle Class in
the Nineteenth-Century United States" in Burton J. Bledstein and Robert D. Johnston
(eds.), The Middling Sorts: Explorations in the History of the American Middle Class
Routledge.
'Think Like a Winner! , Walter Doyle Staples, Wilshire Book Company (March 1993)
'Success and Survival on Wall Street: Understanding the Mind of the Market, By
Charles W. Smith , Rowman & Littleheld Publishers, lnc. (December 2001)

American Sociologt Research Review, vol.I, nov. 2008 - CUP - Draft N"3
 the "extemal signs of wealth"7. This example still persists in its vulgar guise under
the name bling-bling8.

The excesses of this arrogant and materialistic winner brought about, throughout
the 1990s, an inverse trend. The system alarms, its meaning escapes the individual,
and it prefers to give up on the bitter competition for wealthe. The ideals of social
success are, in themselves, less developed, and we think of them less readily in the
private sector, often considered a refuge. This is the era of cocooning, of
"fooding"l0, of refocusing on the home (in terms of decorations, furnishings...). A
sort of frightened, childish regression, leading one to cower within a 1O0-mile
radius of their homelt. This is also the era where the necessities of decline and
ecology expand rapidly and decisively, to the point of becoming a ncw summons
weighing on behaviour, and imposing on them its negative and anxious filter that
some have dubbed "eco-fatigue"I2.

More recently, we have seen a more mature kind of social success emerge, within
the enlarged social classes, that some commentators have called "soft-winner" or
"windy-winner"13, in reference to a more flexible and ethereal idea, to their status,
and insofar as re-writing the surfing rulebook, to the speed of a motorbike with
"wind in their hair". Peter Meiskins and Peter Whalley (Cornell University) get on
to this subject of the "peaceful revolution"to. This phenomenon keeps a check on
itself largely through the impulse of the huge entry of women amongst the

'Jean-Pascal Daloz (2003), Ostentation in Comparative: Culture and Elite, in Dr Fredrik

Engelstad (ed.) Comparative Studies of Culture and Power (Comparative Social
Research, Volume 2l), Emerald Group Publishing Limited
'Rap Music and Street Consciousness (Music in American Life), Cheryl L. Keyes ,
University of Illinois Press (March 5, 2004)
'The Sociology of Elites, Michael Hartmann, T & F Books UK; I cdition (January 29,
2008)
to
Consumer unit types and expenditures on food away from home, Journal of Consumer
Affairs, Winter, 1995 by Louis G. Pol, Sukgoo Pak
1l
Eat Where You Live: How to Find and Enjoy Fantastic Local and Sustainable Food No
Matter Where You Live, Lou Bendrick, Skipstone Press (September 30, 2008 )
" http ://www.ecolifeblog.com/ecofatigue/
" Putting Work In Its Place: A Quiet Revolution, Peter Meiksins , Peter Whalley , Cornell
University Press (August 31, 2004)
'o Putting Work In Its Place: A Quiet Revolution, Peter Meiksins , Peter Whalley , Cornell
University Press (August 3l ,2004)

American Sociologt Research Review, vol.I, nov. 2008 - CUP - Draft N"3
 of success remains
professional levels of successl5. Even if the material dimension
itself principally negatively
charged, this new way which is emerging characterises
in relation to Previous methods.

relationship with the

Firstly, the "soft-winner" no longer maintains an ostentatious
material objects supposed to embody his success. These
will be integrated less
to create a rift between
artificiallyiâ irr,o tri, àay-to-day life, and will no longer aim
the winner and the others.

Furthermore, the soft-winner no longer contrasts

his private life with his
success at work for him if
professional life. Strictly speaking, there would not exist
this had to take root in a sacrifice in his personal life,
in terms of his friends or
family.Inthesamewaythatfeminismtaughtwomentonotacceptasemi-
the winner of the 2010s does
fulhlment which would confine them to the home17,
his existencel8'
not accept success that will amputate him from apartof

is much more liberated

Additionally, and these aspects are related, the soft-winner
predecessors' His
from political correctness and ideological dogmas than his
perspective, for example' doesn't
conscience fiom an ecological and citizenship
summonses that lead to
make the best of the multiplication of the prescriptive
that he can have a
behaviourle. Wonied about the planet20, he also knows
"nii6.n Caprio promoting the Tesla
bath or take a ride in a sports car (like Leonardo Di
prius hybrid) without really putting the planet in
Roadster, in addition to his Toyota
danger by himself. The soft-winner looks for,
in these fields as in the political
but accepts neither guilt nor
domain, the intermediate and reasonable "third ways",
easy and demagogic formulae.

predecessor (including its

Finally, this "soft-winner", contrary to his bourgeois

10 (Research in the Sociology of Work) JAI

', The Transformation of Work, Volume
Press; 1 edition (March 28,2001)
Paths to Pleasure in Hobbies and Leisure
(Gender Relations
'6 Hedonizing Technologies:
in the Americ) Rachel p. Maines The Johns Hopkins
university Press; 1 edition (June 9,
2009)
Writings, Miriam Schneir ,Vintage (June 28' 1994)
', Feminism: The Essential Historical
J. Bôrôcz' Pergamon; 1st edition
,,
Leisure Migration: A Sociological Study on Tourism,
(December 6,1996)
'n Perspectives on Ecology:
A critical Essay, Koula Mellos, Palgrave Macmillan
(December 1988)
Macauley The Guilford Press; I
,o
The Minding Nature: Philosophers of Ecology, David
edition (March 29, 1996)

1.1, nov- 2008 - C\JP - Draft M3

 variant the bohemian bourgeois), refuses to take himself seriously in terms of his
attitudes, his consumption choices and his icons. In cultural terms, for example, he
is a "multi-consumer": capable of frequenting art galleries or the screens of a public
cinema, and listening to Haydn and Bach as much as Beyonce or Michael
Jackson2l.

Thus the adaptive ability of the upper classes to the problems of the representation
of their own success is extremely important. These upper classes constantly manage
to reinvent their imagination of legitimization22, their own "weltanschâuung",
giving back the original meaning to the theory of Karl Marx, who indicated that the
primary strength of the dominant classes was knowing how to impose their own
scale ofvalues to the rest ofsociety.

" The Plural Actor, Bernard Lahire, HUP, 1999

"Language and Symbolic Power, P. Bourdieu, Harvard University Press (December 12,
teee)

American Sociologt Research Review, voll, nov. 2008 - CUP - Draft M3