Name-drops and tracks rank
Every story features someone well known, and they know everyone's title, salary band and club.
Rule out first
Industries where the network is the job. A recent move into a new class or city. Insecurity after a setback.
What could explain it
Status motive: They want standing and are open about it; it doesn't cost them warmth with people who can't help them.
Social comparison: Constant measuring against others, and they often come out feeling smaller; there's envy in it.
Contingent self-worth: Their mood rises and falls with whose company they're in.
Grandiose narcissism: The names lift them above the room, and they're dismissive of people without them.
Vulnerable (covert) narcissism: Under the names is a sense of being overlooked; they're quick to feel snubbed when not introduced.
Striving for superiority and the superiority complex (Adler): The ranking sharpens around one sore spot (education, money, family background) and around people who once made them feel small. Above them they're deferential; below them, contemptuous.
A next move
Watch how they treat a waiter, a junior, someone with no status. Warmth means ambition; dismissal means narcissism; anxious self-comparison means insecurity.
If it’s you
Whose standing am I trying to borrow when I mention them?