History Main / SocialClimber

* [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugLilaRossi Lila Rossi]] from ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' is a mix of GoldDigger, ProfessionalButtKisser, and BitchInSheepsClothing with a ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. She feels entitled to fame, praise, and devotees. To accomplish that, she is hellbent on trying to get in a relationship with famous model Adrien Agreste to leech off his money and social status. Later, she makes a deal with [[AbusiveParents Adrien's father]] to spy on his son in exchange for a contract as a model in his prominent fashion company, and not a run-of-the-mill model at that.

* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'' reveals that Randall is a social climber; he starts off as a dorky roommate of Mike's whose only desire, it turns out, is to hang out with the cool kids, whom he ditches Mike for at the first opportunity. This eventually leads to their rivalry in ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc''.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicRarity Rarity]], who is a tailor and fashion designer, has this mentality; she aspires to be "a lady" and become popular in the higher spheres of society. Not through any unsavory means, but through her merits as an artist and person of good taste. She doesn't notice it, but the show proves to us that it's really much more of a matter of connections rather than genuine talent. That said, the show also displays her merits ''getting'' her such connections, such as being the preferred designer of pop star Sapphire Shores.

* Lila Rossi from ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' is a mix of GoldDigger, ProfessionalButtKisser, and BitchInSheepsClothing with a ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. She feels entitled to fame, praise, and devotees. To accomplish that, she is hellbent on trying to get in a relationship with famous model Adrien Agreste to leech off his money and social status. Later, she makes a deal with [[AbusiveParents Adrien's father]] to spy on his son in exchange for a contract as a model in his prominent fashion company, and not a run-of-the-mill model at that.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Rarity, who is a tailor and fashion designer, has this mentality; she aspires to be "a lady" and become popular in the higher spheres of society. Not through any unsavory means, but through her merits as an artist and person of good taste. She doesn't notice it, but the show proves to us that it's really much more of a matter of connections rather than genuine talent. That said, the show also displays her merits ''getting'' her such connections, such as being the preferred designer of pop star Sapphire Shores.

* Eva Heineman's defining characteristic in ''Anime/{{Monster}}'', dumping Tenma when he got demoted so she could start flirting with the man who took his place. It eventually leads into BreakTheHaughty, though, as her using men leaves her bitter and alone once her reputation is known.

* ''FanFic/ToHellAndBackArrowverse'':

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* Eva Heineman's defining characteristic in ''{{Anime/Monster}}'', dumping Tenma when he got demoted so she could start flirting with the man who took his place. It eventually leads into BreakTheHaughty, though, as her using men leaves her bitter and alone once her reputation is known.

* The ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse features many of them. Scrooge is one such example, who is a ''successful'' one as a side effect of becoming rich.

* In ''Fanfic/TheElementsOfFriendship'', Moondancer in one (before she actually appeared on-screen in canon, mind), making Twilight blowing her off a lot more understandable. Twilight also believes Rarity to be one of the negative variety when they first meet.
* In ''FanFic/ToHellAndBackArrowverse''

* In ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheIcePrincess'', Lucius Malfoy is shown trying to subtly encourage a relationship between Draco and the princesses of Arendelle for the social boost it will give his own family, although he is unaware that Elsa is already attending Hogwarts and has become aware of Draco's ulterior agenda in spending time with her.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' fanfic ''Fanfic/ResurrectedMemories'', [[spoiler:Ember's mother is revealed to have been one of these. As her husband's career continued to advance, she became more focused on her family's social status, to the point of emotionally neglecting Ember.]]
* ''Fanfic/DariaInMorrowind'' shows Quinn planning to reach great heights through social climbing. She's more focused on this than is her canon counterpart.

--> '''Shinri''': In general, hangers-on and other useless people do not throw themselves at armed assailants. Her calibre is higher than that, at least.

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Cinderella}}'': this seems to be [[WickedStepmother Lady Tremaine's]] major goal, and the reason she was attempting so hard to get her daughters to marry the prince.

* The entire motivation for Snatcher's schemes in ''WesternAnimation/TheBoxtrolls'' is to become so rich and powerful that he will be accepted by the city's upper-class.

* ''Literature/ThatHideousStrength'': Mark Studdock started doing this when he was still in school, abandoning his genuine but tragically unpopular friend to get into the top clique of students. During the story, he's doing everything he can to become part of the secret society taking power in town, unaware that they are basically working for {{Satan}}.
* Littlefinger from ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' fits this trope perfectly. The son of a minor lord, he has used charm, wits, treachery, and flattery to climb as high up the ladder of Westerosi politics as he can. As of Literature/ADanceWithDragons [[spoiler:he is one of the most powerful Lords in the realm, being both Lord Paramount of the Trident and Lord Protector of the Vale. He's had to leave a substantial trail of bodies in his wake to get to that point, though.]]

* Creator/CharlesDickens books often feature characters who try to escape their dark upbringing and arrive at a position of comfort and respectability though it almost always features characters who triumph by honest, hard work. Literature/DavidCopperfield is a good example. One reason why ''Literature/GreatExpectations'' is regarded as highly mature is that Dickens finally critiques his use of the trope in showing the social-climbing hero Pip to be a bit of a snob in his yearning for social respectability, only to discover that the MysteriousBacker of his rise up the social ladder was not the rich Mrs. Haversham as he had assumed but [[spoiler:the poor convict Magwitch. This starts his CharacterDevelopment]].

* ''Literature/MyYearOfRestAndRelaxation'': The rich WASP narrator considers Reva, who is from a middle-class family, constantly buying knockoff designer bags, bulimic in an attempt to get skinnier, and transparently covetous of the narrator's privilege, as a distasteful social climber.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'': This very much describes two of Londo's three wives, [[spoiler:the ones he winds up divorcing]]. The final one doesn't really seem to care that much about it.
* Main motivation for ''Series/GossipGirl'''s Dan Humphrey, though he spends a large part of the series vehemently denying it and even shaming others who do the same. His sister Jenny is a more "honest about it" example of this trope.

* The ''Series/BlackMirror'' episode [[Recap/BlackMirrorNosedive "Nosedive"]] takes place in a dystopian future where people rate each other out of five stars on social media. Having a high rating not only means increased social standing but a slew of other benefits like preferential treatment for airline seats, in hospitals, and on housing waiting lists, whereas having a low rating can cost you your job or even your freedom. As a result, there are a ''lot'' of people who fit the bill, including the main character Lacie.
* George Warleggan, the villain in ''Series/{{Poldark}}'' (set in the mid-to-late 1700s and early 1800s). He is a rich banker whose grandfather was a blacksmith hence his main ambition is to get the respect of the nobility and to that feel he belongs amongst them.
* The M.O. of protagonist Hyacinth Bucket[[note]]"It's ''[[PretentiousPronunciation Bouquet]]''"[[/note]] on ''Series/KeepingUpAppearances''. She's an ordinary middle-class woman from a somewhat lower-class family, but she spends all her time putting on airs and trying to impress important people in order to seem more important and higher class than she is, to the despair of everyone around her.
* The telenovela ''Series/{{Teresa}}'' features a VillainProtagonist who was raised in a poor family but is determined to [[GoldDigger obtain wealth and status]] no matter the cost. She leaves much misery and even death in her wake, until it finally catches up with her.
* ''Series/TheGildedAge'': While Bertha Russell and her RobberBaron husband are already richer than Croesus, she will stop at nothing to force the New York OldMoney to accept her family into their ranks.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLastStory'', an explicit goal of some of the mercenaries is to become knights.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'', the PlayerCharacter starts poor but eventually becomes super-wealthy; his mission-givers also show the same progression.

Compare NouveauRiche, RagsToRiches, SelfMadeMan, and WorkingClassHero. Often overlaps with AmbitionIsEvil. A Social Climber may also be a MilesGloriosus in order to warm himself to his intended circle. A school-age Social Climber would want to be InWithTheInCrowd. Also, some may be VicariouslyAmbitious and are looking to push someone else into doing some social climbing rather than doing so for themselves.

* '''The Snob''': In RealLife, originally Snob used to refer to the non-noble students of {{UsefulNotes/Oxbridge}} (''sine nobilitate'', abbreviated to ''s. nob.''), who'd imitate the nobles' mannerisms as a way of sticking it to them. Nowadays, it's used to refer to people who are perfectly willing to stick up their noses at people they've left behind.

** Carter Bowen is strongly implied to be this. His family is Nouveau Riche and had to pull a lot of strings to get him into Balliol, suggesting that his overachieving is to compensate for this perceived failure of his background.

** Isabel Rochev. One of the reasons why she hates the Queens is because she can't get any higher up the ladder without marrying well, something Moira will do everything in her power to make sure it won't happen.

* In ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{ResurrectedMemories}}'': [[spoiler:Ember's mother is revealed to have been one of these. As her husband's career continued to advance, she became more focused on her family's social status, to the point of emotionally neglecting Ember in the process.]]

* ''LightNovel/BanishedFromTheHerosParty'': The son of a minor aristocrat, Ares wants to marry Ruti to gain more political power. In the best case scenario, he could even become a king! This was why he drove Gideon away and why he keeps trying to gain Ruti's favor despite her making it quite clear that she hates him for driving Gideon away. Ares also acts friendly with all the social elite his party meets, be they nobles or generals.

-->-- '''Kate [=McGowan=],''' ''Theatre/{{Titanic}}''

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': In a CyberPunk setting where all the authorities work in OneNationUnderCopyright, this isn’t uncommon.

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'': [[{{Deuteragonist}} Griffith]]'s dream is to become the king of Midland even though [[RagsToRoyalty he was born a commoner]]. He starts as a leader of the Band of the Hawk, [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores a small band of mercenaries]], and earns himself fame as a great military leader in the ongoing One Hundred Years War. Eventually, he gets [[{{Knighting}} knighted]] and after he's led the Band of the Hawk into a war-deciding victory against the Castle of Doldrey his mercenaries are given the title of "White", the highest possible honor an army can be granted. After the war has ended, however, Griffith can't climb any higher by military merits alone. His last plan is to marry [[PrincessClassic princess Charlotte]] so he would eventually inherit the throne. [[spoiler:In the end, the fact how close to succeeding Griffith gets only serves to make his fate that much more tragic. [[BreakTheHaughty Griffith loses all that he has gained]] and [[DealWithTheDevil sacrifices his men]] in a [[DespairEventHorizon desperate attempt]] to salvage what has been lost]].

* ''LightNovel/BanishedFromTheHerosParty'': The son of a minor aristocrat, Ares wants to marry Ruti to gain more political power. In the best case scenario, he could even become a king! This was why he drove Gideon away and why he keeps trying to gain Ruti's favor despite her making it quite clear that she hates him for driving Gideon away. Ares also acts friendly with all the social elite his party meets, be they nobles or generals.

* '''The Snob''': In RealLife, originally Snob used to refer to the non-noble students of {{UsefulNotes/Oxbridge}} (''sine nobilitate'', abbreviated to ''s. nob.''), who'd imitate the nobles' mannerisms UpToEleven as a way of sticking it to them. Nowadays, it's used to refer to people who are perfectly willing to stick up their noses at people they've left behind.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Rarity, who is a tailor and fashion designer, has this mentality; she aspires to be "a lady" and become popular in the higher spheres of society. Not through any unsavory means, but through her merits as an artist and person of good taste. She doesn't notice it, but the show proves to us that it's really much more of a matter of connections rather than genuine talent. That said, the show also displays her merits ''getting'' her such connections, such as being the preferred designer of pop star Sapphire Shores.

* In ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheIcePrincess'', Lucius Malfoy is shown trying to subtly encourage a relationship between Malfoy and the princesses of Arendelle for the social boost it will give his own family, although he is unaware that Elsa is already attending Hogwarts and has become aware of Draco's ulterior agenda in spending time with her.
* In ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{ResurrectedMemories}}'': [[spoiler:Ember's mother is revealed to have been one of these. As her husband's career continued to advance, she became more focused on her families social status, to the point of emotionally neglecting Ember in the process.]]