In a world in which people value status heavily--as they presumably do in ours--working to eliminate
status seeking on one margin will shift
status seeking onto other margins.
They found four common motivations 'identity seeking', 'revenge seeking', '
status seeking' and 'thrill seeking'.
* Xi Chen, Yale University; Ravi Kanbur, Cornell University; and Xiaobo Zhang, International Food Policy Research Institute, "Peer Effects, Risk Pooling, and
Status Seeking: What Explains Gift Spending Escalation in Rural China?"
Sumptuousness or luxurious living, which the capital sin of lust originally addressed, is today better known by such terms as
status seeking, conspicuous consumption, living on credit, and debting.
As in every other profession, in which good things are scarce and lucrative, there is infighting and
status seeking, and everybody knows everybody else's business.
Another consideration in the drive toward adolescent risk-taking behavior may be related to a natural increase in
status seeking. Dr.
(Can we also be assured that our
status seeking universities will not want to emulate Harvard and Yale by turning away a qualified student in favor of a poorly prepared, affluent and well-connected one like George W.
To the extent that competition and
status seeking are inherent in human nature, those drives in a world of nanotech abundance will have to be satisfied in new ways.