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One, I agree that biology is not destiny. (Indeed, I believe I said the opposite.) Two, I agree that our current society is a mess, and share your desire that it be made better. That said, I have never seen a primatologist suggest that we aren't wired for status. Certainly our closest relatives, chimpanzees, are. (See, e.g., de Waal's Chimpanzee Politics.) I think it's important to acknowledge that tendency if we want to make the world less of a mess. For example, consider how we deal with a different inbuilt tendency: violence. We know that all humans can be violent, which is why children are taught early and often that violence is wrong. It's why we have a whole system of customs and laws that constrain violent behavior. We, as a culture, are working to eliminate it, but we can't do that by pretending it isn't part of our nature. I think we should do the same for status. Rather than constructing a system that, as you say, helps the privileged maintain their sense of status, we to acknowledge that an irrational drive for status is part of our roots, and to build a society that helps us overcome that. |