Keeping up with the Joneses: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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{{Short description|Idiom on comparing oneself to neighbors}}

{{other uses}}

{{more sources|date=March 2022}}

''"'''Keeping up with the Joneses'''''" is an [[idiom]] in many parts of the [[English language|English]]-speaking world]] referring to the comparison of oneself to one's neighbor, where the neighbor serves as a benchmark for [[social class]] or the accumulation of [[Tangible property|material goods]]. To failFailure to "keep up with the Joneses" is perceived as demonstratinga demonstration of [[Socioeconomic mobility in the United States|socio-economic]] or cultural inferiority. The phrase originatedwas incoined by a 1910s [[Keeping Up with the Joneses (comics)|comic strip of the same name]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ammer |first1=Christine |title=The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, Second Edition |date=2013 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-547-67658-6 |page=251 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l_LxuR1jMVgC |language=en}}</ref><ref name=Safire>Safire, William (November 15, 1998). [https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/15/magazine/on-language-up-the-down-ladder.html?src=pm "On Language; Up the Down Ladder"]. ''[[The New York Times]]''. Retrieved June 23, 2016.</ref><ref name=toonopedia>{{cite web |last= Markstein|first=Don|year=2010|website=www.toonpedia.com|publisher=Don Markstein's Toonopedia |title= Keeping Up with the Joneses |url=http://www.toonopedia.com/joneses.htm|access-date=June 23, 2016 }}</ref>

==Origins==

[[File:Keeping up with the jonesesJoneses panel.png|thumb|right|510px|Comic''Keeping Up with the Joneses'' comic strip by Pop Momand, 19211920.]]

The phrase originates with the [[comic strip]] ''[[Keeping Up with the Joneses (comics)|Keeping Up with the Joneses]]'', created by [[Arthur R. "Pop" Momand]] in 1913. The strip ran until 1940 in ''[[The New York World]]'' and various other newspapers. The strip depicts the [[social climber|social climbing]] McGinis family, who struggle to "keep up" with their neighbors, the Joneses of the title. The Joneses were [[unseen character]]s throughout the strip's run, often spoken of but never shown. The idiom ''keeping up with the Joneses'' has remained popular long after the strip's end.<ref name="Safire"/><ref name="toonopedia"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2011/02/pop-momand-profiled-by-alex-jay.html|title=Stripper's Guide|access-date=12 September 2015}}</ref><ref>Robert Hendrickson, ''The Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins''.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://manof300.com/why-are-we-keeping-up-with-the-joneses/|title= Why are We Keeping Up with the Joneses? |publisher= Man of 300|access-date=20 May 2018|archive-date=22 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522111736/https://manof300.com/why-are-we-keeping-up-with-the-joneses/|url-status=dead}}</ref>▼

UseThe use of the name ''[[Jones (surname)|Jones]]'' forto refer to metaphorical neighbors involvedor friends in discussions of social comparison predates Momand's comic strip. In 1879, English writer E. J. Simmons wrote in ''Memoirs of a Station Master'' of the [[Train station|railroad station]] as a place for social exchange: "The Joneses, who don't associate with the Robinsons, meet there."<ref name=Safire/> American humorist [[Mark Twain]] made an allusion to Smith and Jones families with regard to social custom in the essay "Corn Pone Opinions", written in 1901 but first published in 1923.: "The outside influences are always pouring in upon us, and we are always obeying their orders and accepting their verdicts. The Smiths like the new play; the Joneses go to see it, and they copy the Smith verdict."<ref>Mark Twain, [http://grammar.about.com/od/classicessays/a/cornponetwain.htm "Corn Pone Opinions"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116044006/http://grammar.about.com/od/classicessays/a/cornponetwain.htm |date=2013-01-16 }}</ref> Starting in 1908, [[D. W. Griffith|D.W. Griffith]] directed a series of comedy shorts starring The [[Biograph Girl]], [[Florence Lawrence]], featuring the people next door, The Joneses.▼

▲The phrase originates with the [[comic strip]] ''[[Keeping Up with the Joneses (comics)|Keeping Up with the Joneses]]'', created by [[Arthur R. "Pop" Momand]] in 1913. The strip ran until 1940 in ''[[The New York World]]'' and various other newspapers. The strip depicts the [[social climber|social climbing]] McGinis family, who struggle to "keep up" with their neighbors, the Joneses of the title. The Joneses were [[unseen character]]s throughout the strip's run, often spoken of but never shown. The idiom ''keeping up with the Joneses'' has remained popular long after the strip's end.<ref name="Safire"/><ref name="toonopedia"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2011/02/pop-momand-profiled-by-alex-jay.html|title=Stripper's Guide|access-date=12 September 2015}}</ref><ref>Robert Hendrickson, ''The Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins''.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://manof300.com/why-are-we-keeping-up-with-the-joneses/|title= Why are We Keeping Up with the Joneses? |publisher= Man of 300|access-date=20 May 2018}}</ref>

An alternative explanationtheory is that the Joneses of the saying refer to the wealthy family of [[Edith Wharton]]'s father, the Joneses.<ref name=Lee2013>{{cite book|author=Lee, Hermione |title=Edith Wharton|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xEgqbyOkK28C&pg=PA22 |year=2013 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-1-84595-201-3 |page=22}}</ref> The Joneses were a prominent New York family with substantial interests in [[Chemical Bank]] as a result of marrying the daughters of the bank's founder, [[John Mason (businessman)|John Mason]].<ref>{{cite book|last=de Troubiand Post|first=Marie Caroline|title=The descendants of John Jones and John Mason|url=https://archive.org/details/descendantsofjoh00post|year=1913}}</ref> The Joneses and other rich New Yorkers began to build country villas in the [[Hudson Valley]] around [[Rhinecliff, New York|Rhinecliff]] and [[Rhinebeck (village), New York|Rhinebeck]], which had belonged to the [[Livingston family|Livingstons]], another prominent New York family to whom the Joneses were related. The houses became grander and grander. In 1853, Elizabeth Schermerhorn Jones built a 24-room [[Gothic architecture|gothic]] villa called [[Wyndcliffe]] described by [[Henry Winthrop Sargent]] in 1859 as being very fine in the style of a Scottish castle, but by Edith Wharton, Elizabeth's niece, as a gloomy monstrosity.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wharton|first=Edith|title=A Backward Glance|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.215864|year=1934|publisher=D. Appleton-Century Company Incorporated}}</ref> The villa reportedly spurred more building, including a house by William B. Astor (married to a Jones cousin), a phenomenon later described as "keeping up with the Joneses". The phrase is also associated with another of Edith Wharton's aunts, Mary Mason Jones, who built a large mansion at [[Fifth Avenue]] and 57th Street, then undeveloped. Wharton portrays her affectionately in ''[[The Age of Innocence]]'' as Mrs. Manson Mingott, "calmly waiting for fashion to flow north".▼

▲Use of the name ''Jones'' for neighbors involved in social comparison predates Momand's comic strip. In 1879, English writer E. J. Simmons wrote in ''Memoirs of a Station Master'' of the railroad station as a place for social exchange: "The Joneses, who don't associate with the Robinsons, meet there."<ref name=Safire/> American humorist [[Mark Twain]] made an allusion to Smith and Jones families with regard to social custom in the essay "Corn Pone Opinions", written in 1901 but first published in 1923. "The outside influences are always pouring in upon us, and we are always obeying their orders and accepting their verdicts. The Smiths like the new play; the Joneses go to see it, and they copy the Smith verdict."<ref>Mark Twain, [http://grammar.about.com/od/classicessays/a/cornponetwain.htm "Corn Pone Opinions"]</ref> Starting in 1908, D.W. Griffith directed a series of comedy shorts starring The [[Biograph Girl]], [[Florence Lawrence]], featuring the people next door, The Joneses.

A slightly different version is that the phrase refers to the grand lifestyle of the Joneses who by the mid-century were numerous and wealthy, thanks to the Chemical Bank and Mason connection. It was their relation [[Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor|Mrs William Backhouse Astor, Jr]] who began the "patriarchs balls" around the end of the 19th century, the origin of "[[Ward McAllister#"The Four Hundred"|The Four Hundred]]", the list of the society elite who were invited. By then the Joneses were being eclipsed by the massive wealth of the [[Astor family|Astors]], [[Vanderbilt family|Vanderbilts]] and others but the four hundred list published in 1892 contained many of the Joneses and their relations—old money still mattered.▼

▲An alternative explanation is that the Joneses of the saying refer to the wealthy family of [[Edith Wharton]]'s father, the Joneses.<ref name=Lee2013>{{cite book|author=Lee, Hermione |title=Edith Wharton|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xEgqbyOkK28C&pg=PA22 |year=2013 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-1-84595-201-3 |page=22}}</ref> The Joneses were a prominent New York family with substantial interests in [[Chemical Bank]] as a result of marrying the daughters of the bank's founder, [[John Mason (businessman)|John Mason]].<ref>{{cite book|last=de Troubiand Post|first=Marie Caroline|title=The descendants of John Jones and John Mason|url=https://archive.org/details/descendantsofjoh00post|year=1913}}</ref> The Joneses and other rich New Yorkers began to build country villas in the [[Hudson Valley]] around [[Rhinecliff, New York|Rhinecliff]] and [[Rhinebeck (village), New York|Rhinebeck]], which had belonged to the [[Livingston family|Livingstons]], another prominent New York family to whom the Joneses were related. The houses became grander and grander. In 1853, Elizabeth Schermerhorn Jones built a 24-room [[Gothic architecture|gothic]] villa called [[Wyndcliffe]] described by [[Henry Winthrop Sargent]] in 1859 as being very fine in the style of a Scottish castle, but by Edith Wharton, Elizabeth's niece, as a gloomy monstrosity.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wharton|first=Edith|title=A Backward Glance|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.215864|year=1934|publisher=D. Appleton-Century Company Incorporated}}</ref> The villa reportedly spurred more building, including a house by William B. Astor (married to a Jones cousin), a phenomenon later described as "keeping up with the Joneses". The phrase is also associated with another of Edith Wharton's aunts, Mary Mason Jones, who built a large mansion at [[Fifth Avenue]] and 57th Street, then undeveloped. Wharton portrays her affectionately in ''[[The Age of Innocence]]'' as Mrs. Manson Mingott, "calmly waiting for fashion to flow north".

▲A slightly different version is that the phrase refers to the grand lifestyle of the Joneses who by the mid-century were numerous and wealthy, thanks to the Chemical Bank and Mason connection. It was their relation [[Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor|Mrs William Backhouse Astor, Jr]] who began the "patriarchs balls", the origin of "[[Ward McAllister#"The Four Hundred"|The Four Hundred]]", the list of the society elite who were invited. By then the Joneses were being eclipsed by the massive wealth of the [[Astor family|Astors]], [[Vanderbilt family|Vanderbilts]] and others but the four hundred list published in 1892 contained many of the Joneses and their relations—old money still mattered.

==Social effects==

The philosophy of "keeping up with the Joneses" has widespread effects on some [[society|societies]]. According to this philosophy, [[conspicuous consumption]] occurs when people care about their standard of living and its appearance in relation to their peers.<ref>{{cite journal |author-link=Jordi Galí |last=Galí |first=Jordi |title=Keeping up with the Joneses: Consumption Externalities, Portfolio Choice, and Asset Prices |journal=[[Journal of Money, Credit and Banking]] |volume=26 |issue=1 |year=1994 |pages=1–8 |doi=10.2307/2078030 |jstor=2078030 }}</ref>

According to Roger Mason,{{who|non sequitur|reason=Who is he, and what are his basic credentials?|date=September 2021}} "the demand for [[Veblen goods|status goods]], fueled by ''conspicuous consumption'', has diverted many resources away from investment in the manufacture of more material goods and services in order to satisfy consumer preoccupations with their ''relative social standing'' and prestige".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mason |first=Roger |title=Conspicuous Consumption and the Positional Economy: Policy and Prescription since 1970 |journal=Managerial and Decision Economics |volume=21 |issue=3/4 |year=2000 |pages=123–132 |doi=10.1002/mde.977 }}</ref>

[[Social status]] once depended on one's family name; however, [[social mobility]] in the United States and the rise of [[consumerism]] there both gave rise to change. With the increasing availability of goods, people became more inclined to define themselves by what they possessed and the quest for higher status accelerated. Conspicuous consumption and [[economic materialism|materialism]] have been an insatiable juggernaut ever since.<ref>[http://www.nd.edu/~ndmag/stuf2s99.htm "Possessions 2"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307002356/http://www.nd.edu/%7Endmag/stuf2s99.htm |date=2008-03-07 }}, ''Notre Dame magazine''</ref>

Inability to "keep up with the Joneses" might result in dissatisfaction, even for people whose status is high. This could possibly tie in to a concept/theory called the "[[hedonic treadmill]]."<ref>[https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100322092057.htm "Money Only Makes You Happy If It Makes You Richer Than Your Neighbors"], ''Science Daily'', March 2010</ref>

Economics and pursuing social status overlap for some where “keeping up with the Joneses“ results in "living above one's means". One ostensible indicator of this is credit card debt - though that is a gross measure and does not take into account such factors as increasing individual incomes, declining interest rates, changes in laws and or credit policies, and attractive investment opportunities that may capture an individual‘s cash, who then relies on credit cards more heavily for basic living expenses.

==In popular culture==

In the 1936 book ''The Next 100 Years'', [[Clifford C. Furnas]] writes that the phenomenon of {{" '}}Keeping up with the Joneses' ... is descended from the spreading of the peacock's tail."<ref>[[Clifford C. Furnas|Furnas, C. C.]], ''The Next 100 Years''. Reynal and Hitchcock. Book. 1936</ref>

In the United Kingdom, when [[Princess Margaret]] married the fashionable photographer [[Anthony Armstrong-Jones]] in 1960, the[[Wallis mediaSimpson]] wouldallegedly sometimes mentionsaid: "At least we're keeping up with the Armstrong-Joneses".<ref>{{Citationcite news |last1=Hitchens |first1=Christopher |author1-link=Christopher Hitchens |title=The Trouble with HRH |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v19/n11/christopher-hitchens/the-trouble-with-hrh |work=London Review of Books needed|date=October5 June 20181997}}</ref>

''[[Jones in the Fast Lane]]'' is a 1990 [[life simulation game|life simulation videogame]] developed and publishedcreated by [[Sierra Entertainment]] in 1990. The game's name and goals are a play on the concept of keeping up with the Joneses.▼

[[The Temptations]] recorded the song "Don't Let The Joneses Get You Down" on their 1969 album [[Puzzle People]].<ref>[[Jet (magazine)|Jet]], Vol.34 No.12 (June 1969), p.65 </ref> The phrase is also referenced in the 1977 song "[[Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)]]" by Waylon Jennings. The Canadian band [[Spirit of the West]] referenced the phrase in a song about [[disability]] in society with the title "(Putting Up With) The Joneses" on the 1990 album ''[[Save This House]]''. The phrase is a line of the lyrics of the song "Life At The Top" by the band [[Bad English]], included in their 1991 album ''[[Backlash (Bad English album)|Backlash]]''. The phrase appears in the songsongs "I Wanna Go Back" by Christian singer [[David Dunn (musician)|David Dunn]] on his 2017 album "Yellow Balloons". and "[[Pour Me a Drink]]" by [[Post Malone]] (featuring [[Blake Shelton]]) on his 2024 album ''[[F-1 Trillion]]''.▼

▲''[[Jones in the Fast Lane]]'' is a [[life simulation game|life simulation videogame]] developed and published by [[Sierra Entertainment]] in 1990. The game's name and goals are a play on the concept of keeping up with the Joneses.

The phrase is used as the title of a 2011–2014 [[Barbados|Barbadian]] comedy-series<ref>{{IMDb title|tt3562146qid=Q123900985|title=Keeping Up with the Joneses}}</ref> and also a 2016 American film ''[[Keeping Up with the Joneses (film)|Keeping Up with the Joneses]]''. The reality television show ''[[Keeping Up with the Kardashians]]'' takes it name from this phrase, replacing "Joneses" with "Kardashians".▼

▲[[The Temptations]] recorded the song "Don't Let The Joneses Get You Down" on their 1969 album [[Puzzle People]]. The phrase is also referenced in the 1977 song "[[Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)]]" by Waylon Jennings. The Canadian band [[Spirit of the West]] referenced the phrase in a song about [[disability]] in society with the title "(Putting Up With) The Joneses" on the 1990 album ''[[Save This House]]''. The phrase is a line of the lyrics of the song "Life At The Top" by the band [[Bad English]], included in their 1991 album ''[[Backlash (Bad English album)|Backlash]]''. The phrase appears in the song "I Wanna Go Back" by Christian singer David Dunn on his 2017 album "Yellow Balloons".

The drum line of the [[Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps]] is referred to as "Jonz", a nickname implying that they are superior to other drum lines.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

▲The phrase is used as the title of a 2011–2014 [[Barbados|Barbadian]] comedy-series<ref>{{IMDb title|tt3562146|Keeping Up with the Joneses}}</ref> and also a 2016 American film ''[[Keeping Up with the Joneses (film)|Keeping Up with the Joneses]]''. The reality television show ''[[Keeping Up with the Kardashians]]'' takes it name from this phrase, replacing "Joneses" with "Kardashians".

==See also==

{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}

*[[Affluenza]]

* [[Affluenza]]
* [[Anthropological theories of value]]

* [[Conspicuous consumption]]

* [[GenerationDiderot Joneseffect]]

* [[Fear of missing out]]

*[[Herd behavior]]▼

*'' [[TheGeneration JonesesJones]]''

▲* [[Herd behavior]]

*''[[Keeping Up with the Joneses (film)|Keeping Up with the Joneses]]''

* ''[[Keeping up with theThe KardashiansJoneses]]''

* [[Mimesis]]

*[[Relative deprivation]]

*'' [[StatusRat Anxietyrace]]''

* [[SymbolicRelative capitaldeprivation]]

* ''[[Status Anxiety]]''

*[[Transformative asset]]▼

* [[Social comparison theory]]

*[[Veblen good]]▼

* [[DiderotSocial Effectstress]]

* [[Symbolic capital]]

▲* [[Transformative asset]]

▲* [[Veblen good]]{{Div col end}}

==References==

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[[Category:Quotations from comics]]

[[Category:1910s neologisms]]

[[Category:1913 quotations]]