"Keeping up with the Joneses" is an idiom in many parts of the English-speaking world referring to the comparison to one's neighbor as a benchmark for social caste or the accumulation of material goods. To fail to "keep up with the Joneses" is perceived as demonstrating socio-economic or cultural inferiority.
Read more about Keeping Up With The Joneses: Origins, Social Effects
Famous quotes containing the words keeping up and/or keeping:
“Keeping up with the Joneses was a full-time job with my mother and father. It was not until many years later when I lived alone that I realized how much cheaper it was to drag the Joneses down to my level.”
—Quentin Crisp (b. 1908)
“BOSWELL “ ... Is not the fear of death natural to man?” JOHNSON. “So much so, Sir, that the whole of life is but keeping away the thought of it.””
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)