Jason Gardner examines the results of a survey that looks at pressures faced by people in their 20s and 30s.

Jason Gardner

Have you ever stopped lately to consider what makes you happy? Could be raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, Bright copper kettles or warm woollen mittens. Perhaps those aren't a few of your favourite things. Perhaps what drives you is reaching the end of a particularly punishing work project, or finally managing to start the month without having dipped into your overdraft. Or maybe just maybe what makes you happy is that six letter word that carries so much weight - status.

You know that feeling you get when you don't just do something well but you exceed your own, and everyone around you's expectations. It's the buzz of instant and heartfelt accolade; the sweet smell of success and rapturous applause - we love it all. Why? Because it seems we're most satisfied with ourselves when others are satisfied with us. Other people's praise signals that we've made it, that we're someone, that we have distinguished status.

That status is something we yearn for was made apparent by a recent survey amongst people in their 20's and 30's. The report produced by care for the family, as part of their 2030vision initiative, focused on the pressures faced by individuals within the age range. When asked what were the issues that had had the greatest effect on them over the past few months, the top three were: career and finding fulfilment in working life; debt and money worries and appearance, self image and worth.

All three are tied to status in some respect, self - image and fulfilment in career more obviously but as Alain de Botton argues in his book Status Anxiety since 1776 in the west we've also increasingly associated status with wealth. There are obvious reasons why debt causes so much concern but in part it's because we associate lack of money with lack of status: is it true that it's the rich that receive most gratification, most praise in contemporary society?

The 'job fulfilment' issue alludes to this as well. The careers we revere in society seem to be those that secure the most financial gain. In the past you were likely to have money because you had status - that is if you were a Lord you had land, servants and money by fact of birth. In today's world simply having money provides status enough: no one minds if you've earned your money through years of hard labour or by winning the lottery: as long as your credit card isn't rejected you'll get the best of treatment. As Botton says:

'Increasingly, status in the West has been awarded in relation to financial achievement. The consequences of high status are pleasant. They include resources, freedom, space, comfort, time and, as importantly perhaps, a sense of being cared for and thought valuable - conveyed through invitations, flattery, laughter, deference and attention.'

Money can't buy you love, but it will buy you status. But is that the bottom line: that the only people our society really cares for is those who might help increase our wealth? And that we feel money is the route to emotional as well as, obviously, financial security?
Perhaps that's why collectively individuals in Britain have racked up nearly £1.2 trillion in personal debt. If we can't have excessive wealth ourselves then we'll use every credit card at our disposal to secure the trappings of wealth and the supposed status that goes with it.

It's fitting to round off with a quote from one of the respondents in the 2030vision survey. When it comes to finding happiness 'we want what every other generation has craved - friendships, relationships and significance.' Let's hope that sentiment prevails in our drive for fufillment and so lets hope there's a backlash on the way: that despite the stories sold to us through adverts and media everyday, true significance doesn't lie in how deep your pockets might be but in how deep your friendships and relationships are.