Rating: 
Summary: Meritocracy, and the desire for distinction
Review: "Snobbery" is quite entertaining, and will hit the typical yuppie right where he lives (ouch!). To enjoy this book you require the ability to laugh at yourself -- that is, should you intend to read it entirely. It is part of a currently popular genre, also prominently illustrated by David Brooks in his "Bobos in Paradise" and various articles in "The Atlantic".Epstein does outline the historical precedents of snobbery and shows its evolution and resulting many new manifestations as meritocracy has allowed greater access to money, and the various niches of society seek distinction. However, as Epstein notes, snobbery exists at all levels of society in some shape or form. He does stress (perhaps overstress, with a bit of bitterness over the past) his own personal experience emphasizing the only relatively recent access by Jews to certain stratas of American society and the resulting changes in heretofore WASP dominated institutions. To his credit, he owns up to his own elitist attitudes throughout the book. Interesting, entertaining, not as clever as I anticipated, but a worthwhile read.
Rating:
Summary: A delightful look at the history of Snobbery in America
Review: Epstein has given us a wonderful look at how snobbery has evolved through the years in America. The book breaks down into chapters based on subject grouping (A classic example is the chapter on college snobbery, where the author discusses which universities are the "hot" ones to have attended) and covers everyhting from the old-money new money class distinction, to the decline of the modern WASP. Basically, Epstein takes a slightly satirical look at how the American Snob has evolved. Written from a qausi-insider perspectvie (Epstein playfully admits to fitting a number of his snob categories) the book gives us a look at how snobbism has affected our cultural history as Americans, and assures us that the snob is alive and well today in america. Over all this is a fine intellectual read. Epstein's dry senes of humor keeps the book from being dry, and his "insiders perspective" makes the satire work even better.
Rating:
Summary: A delightful look at the history of Snobbery in America
Review: Epstein has given us a wonderful look at how snobbery has evolved through the years in America. The book breaks down into chapters based on subject grouping (A classic example is the chapter on college snobbery, where the author discusses which universities are the "hot" ones to have attended) and covers everyhting from the old-money new money class distinction, to the decline of the modern WASP. Basically, Epstein takes a slightly satirical look at how the American Snob has evolved. Written from a qausi-insider perspectvie (Epstein playfully admits to fitting a number of his snob categories) the book gives us a look at how snobbism has affected our cultural history as Americans, and assures us that the snob is alive and well today in america. Over all this is a fine intellectual read. Epstein's dry senes of humor keeps the book from being dry, and his "insiders perspective" makes the satire work even better.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but palls; sympathy makes for better ethnography
Review: Epstein studies snobs
differences are targets
Why go there at all?
Rating:
Summary: A Good book for Statusticians [sic]
Review: Overall, this was a good, light read. The book is, in essence, a long, witty personal essay about snobbery in America. As some other reviewers below have noted, it's slightly redundant, and it seems like it could have been trimmed down a bit to make a pithy 50 page article. But Epstein's tour though snobbery was enjoyable. The book has three main parts. First, Epstein reviews definitions of snobbery, considers how it has changed over time, and then he delves into the various areas that are used by snobs today as bases of status. What follows is a summary of the book's main points: The essence of snobbery is that you want to impress people, to make yourself feel superior at the expense of other people. The dictionary definition is one with an "exaggerated respect for social position or wealth, and a disposition to be ashamed of socially inferior connections; behaves with servility to social superiors, and judges merit by externals; person despising those whose attainments or tastes he considers inferior to his own." Snobs live in a world of relentless one-upmanship; his only standard is one of comparison, competition, and rivalry. The snob is always positioning himself, trying to gain ground on his superiors, distancing his perceived inferiors. A snobs high standards are tools used in an attempt to impress others, rather than as ends in themselves. Snobs respect the trappings of status: social class, money, style, taste, fashion, attainments, prestige, power, glamorous careers & possessions, memberships in exclusive clubs and groups, name-dropping, celebrities, socially favorable marriages. Ironically, however, the snob's quest for status leaves him powerless, for status is not in the possession of it's holder, but in the eyes of the beholder; you cannot convey status on yourself, others must do that. Snobs hope that others will take him at his own extravagant self-valuation; he needs confirmation, acceptance, and fears rejection. For snobs, the wrong opinion, family, schools, connections, clothes, taste, or manners is more than stupid - it's a disqualification. Epstein also asserts that the basis of snobbery has changed over the last century. The old WASP-ocracy, with its emphasis on lineage, Ivy League schools, exclusive neighborhoods and work at law & Wall St firms, has declined for a variety of reasons. In its place, Epstein asserts, the emphasis on taste, style, and being "with it" has increased. Consumption patterns began to replace social class as an organizing principle of society. Taste -- in politics, food, clothes, culture, opinions -- betrays social class, personal aspirations, self-conceptions. These are the remaining grounds for snobbery today. Finally, why does snobbery persist? Snobbery thrives in democracies, in fact, because social mobility allows one to rise, as well as fall. The quest to rise and do better than one's parents is a central part of American culture, and the societal hope is that quest for prestige will drive people to higher levels of achievement. Fear of falling, as well, drives many to snobbery. Until we reach the day when society is fair, kind an generous, and nobody needs reassurance of their worth, then snobbery will exist. Epstein also reminds us, however, that status is a side dish of life, not the main course, and that the best way to gain prestige in a snobbish world not to care about it at all.
Rating:
Summary: A Good book for Statusticians [sic]
Review: Overall, this was a good, light read. The book is, in essence, a long, witty personal essay about snobbery in America. As some other reviewers below have noted, it's slightly redundant, and it seems like it could have been trimmed down a bit to make a pithy 50 page article. But Epstein's tour though snobbery was enjoyable. The book has three main parts. First, Epstein reviews definitions of snobbery, considers how it has changed over time, and then he delves into the various areas that are used by snobs today as bases of status. What follows is a summary of the book's main points: The essence of snobbery is that you want to impress people, to make yourself feel superior at the expense of other people. The dictionary definition is one with an "exaggerated respect for social position or wealth, and a disposition to be ashamed of socially inferior connections; behaves with servility to social superiors, and judges merit by externals; person despising those whose attainments or tastes he considers inferior to his own." Snobs live in a world of relentless one-upmanship; his only standard is one of comparison, competition, and rivalry. The snob is always positioning himself, trying to gain ground on his superiors, distancing his perceived inferiors. A snobs high standards are tools used in an attempt to impress others, rather than as ends in themselves. Snobs respect the trappings of status: social class, money, style, taste, fashion, attainments, prestige, power, glamorous careers & possessions, memberships in exclusive clubs and groups, name-dropping, celebrities, socially favorable marriages. Ironically, however, the snob's quest for status leaves him powerless, for status is not in the possession of it's holder, but in the eyes of the beholder; you cannot convey status on yourself, others must do that. Snobs hope that others will take him at his own extravagant self-valuation; he needs confirmation, acceptance, and fears rejection. For snobs, the wrong opinion, family, schools, connections, clothes, taste, or manners is more than stupid - it's a disqualification. Epstein also asserts that the basis of snobbery has changed over the last century. The old WASP-ocracy, with its emphasis on lineage, Ivy League schools, exclusive neighborhoods and work at law & Wall St firms, has declined for a variety of reasons. In its place, Epstein asserts, the emphasis on taste, style, and being "with it" has increased. Consumption patterns began to replace social class as an organizing principle of society. Taste -- in politics, food, clothes, culture, opinions -- betrays social class, personal aspirations, self-conceptions. These are the remaining grounds for snobbery today. Finally, why does snobbery persist? Snobbery thrives in democracies, in fact, because social mobility allows one to rise, as well as fall. The quest to rise and do better than one's parents is a central part of American culture, and the societal hope is that quest for prestige will drive people to higher levels of achievement. Fear of falling, as well, drives many to snobbery. Until we reach the day when society is fair, kind an generous, and nobody needs reassurance of their worth, then snobbery will exist. Epstein also reminds us, however, that status is a side dish of life, not the main course, and that the best way to gain prestige in a snobbish world not to care about it at all.
Rating: 
Summary: Very uneven
Review: Some of the chapters in this book interest the reader and provoke a lot of chuckles but others infuriate the reader and seem like ramblings down a path of self-indulgence. The chapters tend to have a predictable pattern. First Epstein introduces a concept relating to snobbery, then he discusses his own involvement in snobbery, then he considers some friends of his, finally he concludes by saying that it isn't so bad after all (at which point the reader may imagine that he is attempting to perform irony).
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful and Delightful
Review: These days if I'm going to write a review on Amazon -- what with its annoyingly inconsistent/laughable censorship policies -- it's because I've had a very strong reaction to a specific book or recording and couldn't forbear. Such is Epstein's book. It's a great read. It's original, provocative and insightful. The author has thought long and hard about the subject, and there is much here that is new. Though the author is a college lecturer, there is thankfully nothing that is remotely academic about his writing. Rather, Epstein's approach and style shares much in common with the conversational informality of Montaigne. To clear up a few misconceptions perpetrated by other reviewers:
1) Epstein is most emphatically not a snob. Rather, he is admirably honest about areas where he inclines to what may be regarded as a snobbish outlook, whereas genuine snobs generally lack this sort of self-insight. 2) This book is by no means "light-reading." While it is witty and compulsively readable, many of its insights are profound and will get you thinking about ways in which snobbery has infiltrated your own thinking. 3) "Snobbery," the way Epstein regards it, is by no means a synonym for "elitism," and the book is mercifully free of politically correct cant that would equate the two. All in all, Epstein IS an elitist in the sense that he has the sense and discrimination to accurately gauge relative value in cultural matters, but he is far too honest to be considered a snob.
Rating:
Summary: Perfectamundo
Review: This is a pretty amusing piece of work. It's written by a Jew who wants to be a WASP. So it's got a pretty classy style. It's unfortunate that Herr Dktr. Prof. Epstein did not go into why the WASP snobs gave up so easily for their minority replacements. And also why the replacement just doesn't work. I think he suggests that we need a notion of objective good taste. Alas, we've got 2500 years of people trying to articulate what this is and no one has ever come close to giving a satisfying answer. Given the current state of technology and the fact that people's attention spans last as long as a pop song (because that's all their capable of), this decline of objective good taste is inevitable. This means that the best we're ever going to get is an oscillation between the milquetoast New Age snobbery of the Oprah fan and the mean-spirited macho snobbery of the Maxim lad. The trick is going to be to find a balance. All of which brings me to the real disagreement I have with Herr Dktr Prof E: You can too be a beer snob because Guiness is good for you. (How the heck did he manage to recall every little phrase Proust said about snobbery?!)
Rating:
Summary: I am too good for this book. Sadly, maybe you are not.
Review: This is a pretty good book. Not great. Sure, he pillories the major snobbish fashions of the day. Lots of fun making fun of people who are not as sensible as you or I. He also does a wonderful job of showing how the basis for snobbery has changed, from WASPs and elitism based on real but arbitrary standards like the name of the school you attended, or your connections to established families --- to the modern world, warped by the arbitrary winds of fashionable status, the "hotness" of market driven mania. Still, as a reviewer of great excellence, I must say that his discussion of his attempts to overcome a life of looking down on people and to enter the "snob free zone" limps along -- does he really want us to believe that such a place exists? Who would want to go there? So read this book if you want penetrating insights, sound social commentary, and great amusement. If those are the kinds of things that a person like YOU finds interesting. I might even have given him 5 stars, but of course, I reserve such an award for true merit, of which I am the sole judge.
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