Status–income disequilibrium (sometimes abbreviated

Abbreviation

An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase...

 SID) is a political term frequently used to describe a desirable high status job with (relatively) low income. It is a variation on the sociological term status inconsistency

Status inconsistency

Status inconsistency is a situation where an individual's social positions have both positive and negative influences on his or her social status...

. The phrase was coined by the New York Times columnist David Brooks

David Brooks (journalist)

David Brooks is a Canadian-born political and cultural commentator who considers himself a moderate and writes for the New York Times...

 in his book Bobos in Paradise

Bobos in Paradise

Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There is a book by David Brooks, first published in 2000. The word bobo, Brooks's most famous coinage, is a portmanteau of the words bourgeois and bohemian. The term is used by Brooks to describe the 1990s descendants of the yuppies...

. He wrote:

The sufferers of this malady, have jobs that give them high status but low income. They lunch on an expense account at The Palm

The Palm (restaurant)

The Palm is an American fine-dining steakhouse that opened in 1926. It is located in New York City at 837 Second Avenue.Since its beginnings, management has opened additional restaurants throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and Mexico...

, but dine at home on macaroni. All day long the phone-message slips pile up on their desks—calls from famous people seeking favors—but at night they realize the tub needs scrubbing, so it's down on the hands and knees with the Ajax. At work they are aristocrats, Kings of the Meritocracy

Meritocracy

Meritocracy, in the first, most administrative sense, is a system of government or other administration wherein appointments and responsibilities are objectively assigned to individuals based upon their "merits", namely intelligence, credentials, and education, determined through evaluations or...

, schmoozing with Felix Rohatyn

Felix Rohatyn

Felix George Rohatyn is an American investment banker known for his role in preventing the bankruptcy of New York City in the 1970s, who also served as United States Ambassador to France. He was a long term advisor to the U.S...

. At home they are peasants, wondering if they can really afford to have orange juice every morning.

David Brooks characterized the "sufferers" from SID in a long list, which includes TV news

News program

A news program, news programme, news show, or newscast is a regularly scheduled radio or television program that reports current events. News is typically reported in a series of individual stories that are presented by one or more anchors...

 producers, museum curators, classical music

Classical music

Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

 performers, White House aides

Executive Office of the President of the United States

The Executive Office of the President consists of the immediate staff of the President of the United States, as well as multiple levels of support staff reporting to the President. The EOP is headed by the White House Chief of Staff, currently William M. Daley...

, and politicians, among others. Other journalists applied the term to "authors and academics", journalists, writers, "British middle classes", and even to the British MPs.