Book & podcast collection

Anointed: The Extraordinary Effects of Social Status in a Winner-Take-Most World

byToby Stuart

Sociologist Toby Stuart investigates how social status changes the way people are judged, rewarded, trusted, and remembered. In winner-take-most environments, early recognition can produce cumulative advantages: prestigious affiliations attract resources, attention, and further opportunities even when differences in underlying ability are small. Drawing on research from business, culture, and professional life, Stuart shows how status operates as both information and power. The book explains why merit and reputation are so difficult to separate, how inequality becomes self-reinforcing, and what institutions can do to identify overlooked talent more fairly.

Publisher

Atria Books

Publication date

2025

Format

Print edition

Pages

—

ISBN

9781668001875