Meaning:
To strive to match one's neighbors
Background:
It's not clear when this expression first appeared but it was popularized by
Arthur R "Pop" Momand's Keeping Up With the Joneses comic strip that ran for 26
years from 1913 and was distributed by Associated Newspapers.
Although some see the Joneses as simply a generic for the family next door,
others make a connection to the exceptionally rich family of Edith Wharton (born
Edith Jones) who were prominent in New York Society and were one of the first to
build a grand country villa in the Hudson Valley; others followed suit, with
each house becoming grander than the last.
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Keeping up with the Joneses certainly won't hurt capitalism. I don't see it
right or wrong. I welcome and try to exploit it in others, don't always succeed,
but that's another matter.
For my own sanity, however, I've found it useful to recall once in a while: "If
you live in harmony with nature you will never be poor; if you live according to
what others think, you will never be rich." from Seneca the Younger.
