我不是很忙，我只是在假裝很有地位

Long gone are the days when a life of material excess and endless leisure time signified prestige. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, Americans increasingly perceive busy and overworked people as having high status.

如今，物質(zhì)資料的富余和無盡的休閑時光不再是社會地位高的象征。發(fā)表在《消費者研究期刊》上的一項新研究表明，美國人越來越將忙碌和過度工作視為高社會地位的標(biāo)志。

"We examined how signaling busyness at work impacts perceptions of status in the eyes of others," write authors Silvia Bellezza (Columbia University), Neeru Paharia, and Anat Keinan (both Harvard University). "We found that the more we believe that people have the opportunity for social affirmation based on hard work, the more we tend to think that people who skip leisure and work all the time are of higher standing."

工作忙碌的信號如何影響他人對其社會地位的感知?研究人員Silvia Bellezza(哥倫比亞大學(xué))和Neeru Paharia、Anat Keinan(哈佛大學(xué))對此問題進行了探究。結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)，我們越認(rèn)為“人們只有通過辛勤工作才有機會獲得社會的肯定”，就越容易認(rèn)為那些放棄休閑、一心工作的人擁有更高的社會地位。

High-status Americans a generation ago might have boasted about their lives of leisure, but today they're more likely to engage in humblebrag, telling those around them how they "have no life" or desperately need a vacation.

在幾十年前的美國，高社會地位者可能會對自己的休閑生活自吹自擂。但如今，他們更喜歡以一種看似自謙的方式進行自夸——向周圍人抱怨“沒有屬于自己的生活”，或表示自己迫切需要放假休息。

To explore this phenomenon, the authors conducted a series of studies, drawing participants mostly from Italy and the US. While busyness at work is associated with high status among Americans, the effect is reversed for Italians, who still view a leisurely life as representative of high status.

為深入探索這種現(xiàn)象，研究人員開展了一系列的研究，參與者主要來自美國和意大利。結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)，美國人會將工作忙碌和高社會地位聯(lián)系在一起，而意大利人則恰恰相反，他們?nèi)匀徽J(rèn)為休閑生活代表著更高的社會地位。

Further, the authors found that the use of products and services showcasing one's busyness can also convey status. For instance, the online shopping and delivery grocery brand Peapod signals status just as much as expensive brands, such as Whole Foods, by virtue of its associations with timesaving and a busy lifestyle.

此外，研究人員還發(fā)現(xiàn)，選擇購買某些能夠體現(xiàn)用戶忙碌的產(chǎn)品和服務(wù)也能夠傳達出社會地位。舉例而言，網(wǎng)絡(luò)購物、Peapod(線上生鮮雜貨品牌)和昂貴品牌(如Whole Foods)一樣能夠彰顯出用戶的社會地位，因為它們和忙碌的生活方式、節(jié)約時間綁定在一起。

"We uncovered an alternative type of conspicuous consumption that operated by shifting the focus from the preciousness and scarcity of goods to the preciousness and scarcity of individuals," the authors conclude. "People's social-mobility beliefs are psychologically driven by the perception that busy individuals possess desirable characteristics, leading them to be viewed as scarce and in demand."

總而言之，研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種全新的炫耀性消費類型。以往，人們更關(guān)注物品的珍貴性和稀有性;但如今，人們更在意個人的珍貴性和稀有性。人們認(rèn)為忙碌者身上擁有一些優(yōu)秀品質(zhì)，他們是稀缺的、被需要的、受歡迎的。因此，忙碌被視為高社會地位的象征。