Not only is the Western chase for status unnecessary, but it is unhealthy as Oliver James argues in his book Affluenza:

"Cards on the table," he says, "I contend that most emotional distress is best understood as a rational response to sick societies."

So why are we, in James's words, so fucked up? It's because of what James calls Selfish Capitalism, or, more catchily, "Affluenza", a virus-like condition that spreads through affluent countries. In these countries, notably English-speaking ones, people define themselves by how much money they make. They are also ruled by superficial values - how attractive they look, how famous they are, how much they are able to show off. As the sociologist Erich Fromm would have put it, we have moved from a state of "being" to a state of "having".

Even though status is presumably much more important in other cultures, why might status-seeking be particularly or in any way mentally damaging in Western society?

He refers to Dominant Goal Depression in his other book: 'They F** You Up'. The focus of these type of depressive thoughts tend to focus on self-esteem and level of achievement: aiming for goals of intelligence, beauty and wealth among other things. The sufferer aims higher and higher, never satisfied even at the top. James argues that this is due to parents projecting their expectations on to their children. However, I would assume wider pressures play their roles. In a society that repeatedly saturates you with propaganda that anything is possible, as well as presenting and enabling upward mobility that is limitless, it is all too easy to think that you can do anything no matter who or what you are: you are simply not working hard enough. You have all the opportunities in the world, so why are you not the best? In Western society, when status-seeking is bad, it's bad.