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> For most people "what their goals are" is just "high social status". My suspicion is that this is only an auxiliary goal to get something else - which might
by jnxx 5y ago
> For most people "what their goals are" is just "high social status".
My suspicion is that this is only an auxiliary goal to get something else - which might be some degree of material security. Especially in societies where social security is weak or non-existent.
A high social status can sometimes be helpful because it increases negotiating power. And this might be one reason why people might buy expensive cars and such. But I think it is rarely the end goal, because it is so unspecific and has little to do what an individual /is/.
- haihaibye 5y ago> an individual is An individual is a highly social primate that saw reproductive gains from status (for both sexes) during its evolutionary history. With status being 'cash in the bank' for so many desired things including security and mating success, why wouldn't accumulating enough of it be an end goal, at least in the mind of an individual? Doesn't your theory predict that as people get richer/more secure they'd care less about social status? I tend to see the opposite, and people care very much about relative vs absolute wealth a lot.