People naturally feel a desire to do nice things for people who they perceive as high status. This is because people with lots of money/power/influence have an outsized ability to influence you (for good or bad), so it’s often worthwhile to be in their good graces. This means it’s good to be high-status for the benefits of people treating you better (and if you’re high-status, then there’s a second-order effect from your friends being high-status). Some people seek status instrumentally in this way, but it’s also a feel-good in the same way as food or sex or comfort, so people also seek status just because it feels good.
Status signaling is somewhat different from other kinds of signaling since people’s perception of your status is in itself a form of status.
This is because people with lots of money/power/influence have an outsized ability to influence you (for good or bad), so it’s often worthwhile to be in their good graces.
I already mentioned that in the OP. But what about fashion? Why do people feel a desire to do nice things for people who follow the newest fashion?
People naturally feel a desire to do nice things for people who they perceive as high status. This is because people with lots of money/power/influence have an outsized ability to influence you (for good or bad), so it’s often worthwhile to be in their good graces. This means it’s good to be high-status for the benefits of people treating you better (and if you’re high-status, then there’s a second-order effect from your friends being high-status). Some people seek status instrumentally in this way, but it’s also a feel-good in the same way as food or sex or comfort, so people also seek status just because it feels good.
Status signaling is somewhat different from other kinds of signaling since people’s perception of your status is in itself a form of status.
Thanks for the reply.
I already mentioned that in the OP. But what about fashion? Why do people feel a desire to do nice things for people who follow the newest fashion?