If we’re talking about the mindset of the punishers, then I can attest to it being the former and not the latter; there is usually no secret about this being people’s motivation—they state it aloud, and quite indignantly.
If we’re talking about the game-theoretical motivations behind that mindset, then of course you’re right.
However, note that in a regime where sincere altruism is not generally acknowledged as a likely possibility, the two interpretations do not meaningfully differ. The reason for this is that, both in the minds of the “altruists” and of the punishers, there is no reason to be altruistic except in order to gain status for oneself. (Thus “this act of altruism will increase their status” logically implies “this act of altruism is intended to increase their status”.)
In some societies it might not be considered socially acceptable to want to punish someone merely because what they are doing will raise their social status. That sort of thing is dishonest because social status is reputational and meant to be earned. If someone tries to punish you for doing something to earn status, they probably did not come by their social status by honest means.
In societies where people think like that, I imagine no one would want to say “this act of altruism will increase their status and so should be punished”, because that is a low status motive and expressing it out loud will lower their own status. So instead they have to spin things to make their own motive appear higher status. They would need to frame things to make the altruist look as if they’re the ones being dishonest and freeriding to get more social status than they’ve earned.
Hence “this act of altruism is only intended as a status move”, meaning “this person is not genuinely altruistic, you should not trust them more or think any better of them as a result of this altruism because that’s exactly what they want. They’re manipulating you into giving them more social status with purely selfish motives, and therefore they will not hesitate to stop being altruistic if it becomes advantageous for them later.”
A person making this claim might believe that they believe it, and believe that it is their real motive for punishing an altruist, whether or not it is. Because for one to admit that they’re trying to damage another’s reputation merely for the crime of doing something which improves their reputation would be to admit guilt of unvirtuous conduct oneself.
If we’re talking about the mindset of the punishers, then I can attest to it being the former and not the latter; there is usually no secret about this being people’s motivation—they state it aloud, and quite indignantly.
If we’re talking about the game-theoretical motivations behind that mindset, then of course you’re right.
However, note that in a regime where sincere altruism is not generally acknowledged as a likely possibility, the two interpretations do not meaningfully differ. The reason for this is that, both in the minds of the “altruists” and of the punishers, there is no reason to be altruistic except in order to gain status for oneself. (Thus “this act of altruism will increase their status” logically implies “this act of altruism is intended to increase their status”.)
In some societies it might not be considered socially acceptable to want to punish someone merely because what they are doing will raise their social status. That sort of thing is dishonest because social status is reputational and meant to be earned. If someone tries to punish you for doing something to earn status, they probably did not come by their social status by honest means.
In societies where people think like that, I imagine no one would want to say “this act of altruism will increase their status and so should be punished”, because that is a low status motive and expressing it out loud will lower their own status. So instead they have to spin things to make their own motive appear higher status. They would need to frame things to make the altruist look as if they’re the ones being dishonest and freeriding to get more social status than they’ve earned.
Hence “this act of altruism is only intended as a status move”, meaning “this person is not genuinely altruistic, you should not trust them more or think any better of them as a result of this altruism because that’s exactly what they want. They’re manipulating you into giving them more social status with purely selfish motives, and therefore they will not hesitate to stop being altruistic if it becomes advantageous for them later.”
A person making this claim might believe that they believe it, and believe that it is their real motive for punishing an altruist, whether or not it is. Because for one to admit that they’re trying to damage another’s reputation merely for the crime of doing something which improves their reputation would be to admit guilt of unvirtuous conduct oneself.