Everyone pretends. Makes him or herself seem better, younger, more stylish, richer, more courageous and more successful than they really are. But only when someone pretends to be smarter, or more culturally refined, do we call that person pretentious.

What is it exactly that irks us so? The answers have to do with social class, authenticity, with low and high culture, with football analysts and superhero movies, with Susan Sontag and Pierre Bourdieu. With not forgetting where you are from, with knowing one’s place. In short: with what we think society should look like. In his thought-provoking essay Joost de Vries questions how we position ourselves in relation to culture, education, critical thinking and one another. And even more importantly: real pretentiousness shows why we can’t live without it.