I think an attempt to unpack what the LessWrong community means when it talks about “status” is highly useful, and am glad that Morendil started this discussion. I tend to agree with those who have said that that self-esteem might not be the most useful avenue of exploration and that we shouldn’t discard the idea of dominance so quickly.
On a lighter note, I highly recommend to anyone who has not read it Class by Paul Fussell for its highly amusing, possibly somewhat offensive, now quite dated, but still recognizable description of the class structure in American society. Fussell partly stratifies by income/wealth, but a lot of his descriptions are based on tastes, styles, language, and other matters not (at least directly) related to income. Fussell’s class structure also seem to have at least something to do with what status sometimes means in our discussions.
I think an attempt to unpack what the LessWrong community means when it talks about “status” is highly useful, and am glad that Morendil started this discussion. I tend to agree with those who have said that that self-esteem might not be the most useful avenue of exploration and that we shouldn’t discard the idea of dominance so quickly.
On a lighter note, I highly recommend to anyone who has not read it Class by Paul Fussell for its highly amusing, possibly somewhat offensive, now quite dated, but still recognizable description of the class structure in American society. Fussell partly stratifies by income/wealth, but a lot of his descriptions are based on tastes, styles, language, and other matters not (at least directly) related to income. Fussell’s class structure also seem to have at least something to do with what status sometimes means in our discussions.