What is high society? High society, also known as upper class society: refers to a representative social group composed of dignitaries and nobles and social elites who hold political power, material resources and cultural resources in society. Generally speaking, there are two kinds of people in high society. The first is through their own acquired efforts and personal struggles, so that the assets reach a certain value without work can enjoy life! Or have a certain professional advantage, and the annual income is enough for you to maintain a luxurious life (such as politicians, entrepreneurs and lawyers, doctors, etc.); The second type of person was hereditary nobility, such as dukes, marquises, counts, viscounts, and barons, who were born members of high society. The so-called high society is a way of life, not a social form. From the perspective of the lifestyle of high society, it is marked by private dedicated services. This is also the easiest criterion to discern. The original measure of high society was from hardware, such as private cars, private planes, private gardens; To later software, such as dedicated drivers, dedicated bodyguards, dedicated tailors, dedicated butlers; Then to family doctors, family lawyers, and tutors with family inheritance. Just highlight the "private exclusive" and you're in the ascendancy.
From ancient times to the present, symbolic consumption has two meanings: First, it is a "symbol of consumption". That is, with the help of consumer spending, to express and transmit a certain meaning and information, including the status, identity, personality, taste, taste and identity of consumers. The process of consumption is not only to meet the basic needs of individuals, but also to the process of social performance and social communication of consumers. The second is "symbolic consumption." That is, consumers not only consume the goods themselves, but also consume a certain social and cultural significance symbolized by these goods, including the mood, beauty, atmosphere, style and mood of consumption. Taking Chinese people as an example, due to their unique culture and psychology, Chinese people pursue more conspicuous consumption. For example, BMW cars are purchased in large quantities by Chinese people as a symbol of success; High-end mansions are consumed as identity symbols; Because of this sense of happiness that symbolizes consumption, it also brings a special mood to the Chinese people. In consumer activities, brands have threefold value to consumers: functional value, symbolic value and experiential value, of which symbolic value is particularly favored by consumers for being able to answer and identify the important question of "who am I". At this time, the brand becomes part of the consumer content as a symbol of the difference between "identity and status". For example, the watch is the second expression of a man, a watch can always be associated with the taste and cultivation of men, and the watch of the Louis-Cartier family is more known as the pet of high society. The general wealth class of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was marked by, if you have a watch. And the logo of high society at that time was that whoever had a watch specially customized for the purpose of enjoying opera or concert must be from high society. The reason is that opera, concerts and other arts were almost exclusive to the upper class at that time. When enjoying operas or concerts, the interior of the theater is in a state of lack of light except for the stage, so that people cannot read time. Therefore, in order to solve this problem, the watchmaker specially invented a timepiece that can emit a church bell, that is, the question watch. Due to the extremely high technical difficulty, long production time and high cost of this watch, the output is extremely limited. Generally only nobles have the opportunity to customize it. However, although the 18th century is far away, this invisible symbol has slowly become part of the tradition along with this special social class. So, are you among the upper classes? Take a look at your watch! In high society, big fish always want to be able to use fish that are bigger than themselves to grow and profit faster. Therefore, how to approach a fish that is bigger than oneself is also a very artistic social act. At this point, remember to be as careful when approaching someone richer than you are, no less careful than rounding up an African wildebeest or elk. For them, money is their life, and when you ask them for money, you're sucking their blood. Remember the thirty-seventh rule that George Washington mentioned in Manners and Propriety in Manners and Speech: "When talking to elegant people, do not lean against other objects, do not stare at the faces of others for a long time, and do not stand too close to them, at least one step away." "Imagine yourself in a dance class, rehearsing the elegant dance posture of the show; You must be attentive, welcoming, innocent, determined, humble, and in awe-inspiring like a female deer. You'd better be able to organize documents, open doors, and pull chairs for the important people in front of you. Only in the presence of important columnists is it necessary for you to stammer openly. In order to get sponsorship, welcoming upstarts and welcoming old money means two completely different musical styles. The new generation of wealthy people is more cheerful, more rhythmic, and more appreciative of dramatic behavior. Old moneymen, however, prefer slow motion similar to small-step dances.
Learn to write congratulatory letters Look up names in newspapers, all those who have won awards, received considerable sums of money, or have been appointed to important positions. Every day, before noon, at least five congratulatory letters are sent. Be careful that your words of praise must match your familiarity with each other. If you do have a friendship with the other party, your congratulatory message can be casual and short. If you have only one side to do with the other person, you should attach two congratulatory messages and three allegorical adjectives. If the other person is just a celebrity you admire but don't know, then you should attach four congratulatory messages, plus six adjectives that must be complimented, plus a praise, which can be compared to playing baseball. This is the common etiquette of the upper class, and it is also a good way to get close to the upper class. Social help The upper class can also encounter accidents, and once he suffers a lot of property damage or is close to bankruptcy, he must find a bank or colleague to turn around. People who are well aware of the social rules of high society do not show their cards, but are calm as usual, as if they were dealing with an everyday official document. Remember: Even if you are on the verge of losing your wife, children, house, and reputation, pretend to be indifferent. You should ask your colleagues for ten million instead of a million sponsorships, and imagine that you are talking to your own tailor. This rule is worth your repeated taste, and the deep meaning of it will be understood slowly. In the face of new money and old money Entering high society, you have to distinguish whether you are facing upstart or old money, and their huge background differences will bring different problems to your social network. Therefore, knowing their habits and behavior will allow you to deal with them more effectively. When the upstarts have just entered a higher class, they will compare each other's property in the same way that children compare their birthday gifts or baseball cards; Upstarts will mention the specific length of the motorboat they own, the power of the racing engine, and the names of the famous authors who wrote thank-you notes after attending the banquet they hosted. The old moneymen prefer to compare memories. Talk about the quality of his great-grandmother's iced tea, talk about the paintings hanging in the halls of his old mansion, and what the lawn looked like in the summer when he performed the Diddy dance. So, in the face of upstarts you can talk about the latest stock market insiders or news related to social consumption trends; In the face of old money, it is necessary to talk about mood and the aristocratic art of the last century. The American aristocratic tradition of obtaining wealth through personal struggle has long been an American myth, and this social trend fundamentally embodies the moral ethics of Protestantism, the dominant religion in the United States. Looking back at history, the first European immigrants to come to New England on the Mayflower were the Puritans who fled religious persecution in Europe. Puritanism, like Calvin's Protestantism, saw the accumulation of wealth as an expression of God's grace. Almost all of the first merchants and merchants in new England were Puritans. For example, Thomas Mellon, the grandfather of the American monopoly plutocrat Paul Mellon, accepted the Puritan ethics from an early age that "it is God's will to make money." After visiting a wealthy industrialist, he was determined to "sit on an equal footing" with these big guys, which became his lifelong goal. In the United States, making money is a virtue, what should you do after making money? There is a passage in the Bible where Jesus said to His disciples that it is harder for a rich man to enter heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. In other words, the precondition for the rich to enter heaven must be to scatter all their money. This is related to the enthusiasm of some people in American high society for philanthropy. American steel magnate Andrew Carnegie started with nothing and donated a total of $350 million when he died. Vanderbilt, the king of American shipping, also tried to get rid of his poverty by donating art. Bill Gates, the world's richest man in the world, joined his wife in founding the Bill and Melinda Foundation, which donates more than $1 billion a year to fund health care and health care. In Europe, a man with a title of nobility meant not only that his blood was pure, but also that he was a model of manners, upbringing, demeanor, and even morality (of course, it is an indisputable fact that the aristocratic classes of all dynasties have been plagued by scandals). Similarly, in the United States, a man may become rich overnight, but he can never become a respected person overnight. To win the respect of the world and to be recognized by society, it is also necessary to practice "internal skills". Names like Carnegie Hall, Duke University, the Ford Foundation, and others seem to be a reminder of the other side of giving back to society when people in American high society are taking advantage of each other and giving back to society after their career success. For the average person, 10021 is just the zip code for a certain area of the United States. For American demographers, however, it is clear to them that the code represents the wealthiest neighborhood in the United States: the area in New York City, between Fifth Avenue and the East River, from East 61st Street to East 80th Street. The core area of this area is the celebrity kingdom known as the "aristocratic district". It is home to institutions of wealth, power and social status, the hippest private clubs, and the best private schools. In the early days of the United States, high-class families in port cities such as New York, Philadelphia, and Boston generally built homesteads in the earliest developed areas of the city, the so-called "Downtown". In New York City, upper-class families began building houses around Wall Street. By the late 18th century, as the city expanded, high society moved homesteads near Broadway. In the Gilded Age, New York City's magnates moved from their mansions in the Lower Town to the Upper East Side, building miniature French castles and Viennese palaces along Fifth Avenue east of Central Park, and the Upper East Side became a gathering place for celebrities. These palaces still exist today, some of which have been purchased by foreign diplomatic missions in New York, and some of which have been used by new owners. Some prominent families living near Fifth Avenue and Park Avenue in New York City still retain the tradition of holding annual social gatherings in winter and summer. Now, the nature of such social gatherings has changed from the "social ladder" of the early years to a family public relations contact. In addition, some closed private clubs are also popular places for high society people to socialize. Closed private clubs first appeared at the end of the 19th century, and participation in a closed private club was a sign of high society status at that time. The first members to join these clubs were prominent figures in the business world. Such clubs include the Century Society in New York, the Philadelphia Club in Philadelphia, the Lincoln Club in Pittsburgh, the Chicago Club in Chicago, the Pacific League in San Francisco, and so on. Recruiting celebrities from all over the United States, these clubs, as a symbol of the "unity" of high society, became the best place to negotiate within high society to exchange views and reach compromises. Her private and informal nature create an atmosphere for the ruling class to eliminate differences and reach consensus. Now, the younger generation of celebrities prefer to use clubs as a place to socialize, rather than hosting large social gatherings at home like their parents and grandparents. The formation of the "Good of Qin and Jin" is not only a way for members of the upper class to strengthen each other's social status, but also an alliance between the upper class families to help each other when the economic crisis comes. For example, in the 1970s, Nixon's daughter married Eisenhower's grandson, and the marriage of the two families consolidated the social status of their respective families. Residents of Manhattan's Upper East Side in New York in 1995 witnessed a wedding scene in which the daughter of the world's "richest" man married the world's "purest-blooded" family. Alessandra Natasha Miller, 22, is married to Prince Von Igon Fuersteiberg, who has the oldest German aristocratic ancestry. The groom's mother, Diane von Fuersteiberg, was a designer; The bride's father is a billionaire who runs the world's airport duty-free business. Shortly before that, Alexandra's sister Jasmine had married the eldest son of the deposed Greek king. Weddings like this "wealth marry the head" will continue endlessly in American society.