Tom Wolfe Reveals Snotty Secrets Of The Universe

Tom Wolfe, the journo/novelist best known for the tome-ish Bonfire of the Vanities, has deigned to reveal his theory of life to the Sunday Times magazine:
"It all has to do with status," he says. "Or STATE-us, which is the way you say it if you want more status." In this scheme of things, social behavior is almost always determined by status consciousness — an instinct to preserve your place in the social pecking order. Our status awareness is so fundamental, Wolfe says, that there may even be a specific place in the brain that creates it.
Pretty fancy talk for a guy who's spent the last thirty years walking around dressed like Scrooge McDuck.
Wolfe's World [NYT Mag]