Seeking status is a fundamental human desire that never reaches satiation

Evidence

Sociological research demonstrates that our social position affects long-term well-being, motivates our behavior, and becomes a goal in its own right—and thus can be considered a fundamental human desire. … We seek status because it provides esteem and favors from others. But it’s never easy to obtain. High status is a position within a hierarchy, so the more who seek to move up, the more difficult it becomes to reach the top. This inherent uncertainty puts many on a never-ending quest for higher position. Researchers recently concluded that the achievement of high status only makes people want more. — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 22

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Status-seeking makes many choices nonrational yet still materially rewarding — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 187; Desire proves human reality is constituted as a lack — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 354; Man is fundamentally the desire to be, a lack of being — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1329 (+14 more)

Broader Connections

• Man is fundamentally the desire to be, a lack of being #corroborates (0.90) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1329
• Human fulfillment lies in perpetual surpassing, never in attained rest #corroborates (0.90) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 589
• Desire proves human reality is constituted as a lack #corroborates (0.88) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 354
• The desire for others’ esteem is as basic a human want as hunger #corroborates (0.85) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 64
• Status desire would arise rationally even without any evolved instinct #expands (0.82) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 63
• Rational calculation alone would generate status seeking regardless of innate drive #expands (0.82) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 63
• Desire must be its own lack, not a merely physiological state #expands (0.80) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 355
• People rationalize status desires as quality and beauty preferences #exemplifies (0.76) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 294
• Desire is doomed to failure because coitus and pleasure are not its essential goal #expands (0.75) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 987
• Desire is a chosen mode of consciousness, not a passive impingement #complicates (0.75) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 979
• Longing can be enjoyed as an integrated yet mildly self-detaching state #complicates (0.74) — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life, 437
• The deepest desire is to be objectified, not to possess #responds-to (0.74) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 182
• Status-seeking predates capitalism and exists in stateless societies #qualifies (0.72) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 60
• Status seeking acts as an invisible hand generating culture #expands (0.72) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 25
• Desire is non-reflective and cannot posit its own suppression as end #qualifies (0.72)