keeping up with the Joneses
Neighbor-matching materialism
Keeping up with the Joneses is striving to match the lifestyle, possessions, or status of one's neighbors or peers—buying what they buy, living as they live.
The phrase captures the anxious competitiveness of consumer culture, where visible markers of success drive spending: They bought a boat just to keep up with the Joneses.
The Joneses represent an imaginary standard always slightly ahead of you.
- social pressureGroup influence on behavior
- envyResentful longing for another's
- insecurityUncertainty about oneself
- spending habitsTypical purchasing behaviors
- living beyond meansSpending more than earned
credit card debt · materialism · rivalry · class consciousness · self-worth · prestige · social climbing · mimicry · conformity · peer pressure · advertising · suburban · white picket fence · reputation · luxury goods · societal values · neighbors · bigger house
- social conformityconformist, peer pressure, herd mentality, groupthink, follow the crowd
- Money Beliefsfrugality, materialism, consumerism, thrift, financial independence
- social comparisonranking, peer pressure, status symbols, social hierarchy
- status seekingname dropping, bragging, showing off, flexing, one-upmanship
- status anxietystatus anxiety, social comparison, comparison, envy, social climbing
- Competition idiomslevel playing field, down to the wire, neck and neck, win hands down, come from behind
keeping up with the Jonesescontentment
Peaceful satisfaction with circumstances
gratitude · satisfaction · counting one's blessings · self-satisfaction · enough is enough
keeping up with the Jonesesself-acceptance
Approval of oneself
inner peace · authenticity · non-conformity · self-reliance · intrinsic motivation
keeping up with the Jonesessimple living
Intentional reduction of consumption
minimalism · anti-consumerism · frugality · downshifting · non-materialism