Status matters to all of us. It is a foundational part of what it means to be human. Status provides us with the ability to sense make, to de-mystify some of the complex signals that we see all around us, all the time. In this episode, we discuss status in the context of ostentation, travelling back in time to assess how bling – ostentatious displays of wealth – worked in Roman times, drawing the conclusions that people 2000 years ago were playing the same games that we play today.
Interviewees: Dr Michael Jensen, Professor of Strategy at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan; Dr Paul Roberts, Research Keeper of the Department of Antiquities at the Ashmolean Museum; Dr Joanne Berry, Professor of Classics at the University of Swansea.