The Price of Prestige

10 chapter one

the “dominant motive of man” (Becker 1971 , chap. 7 ; Maslow 1943 ).^22 In

Maslow’s ( 1943 ) famous hierarchy of needs, esteem is a “high need” that

can be achieved only once the material preconditions for survival have

been met. Accordingly, it is a desire that is not driven by a material neces-

sity but rather by a psychological one.^23 Similarly, Adam Smith ([ 1759 ]

1976 , 61 ) viewed the desire to gain approbation as the main purpose of

economic activity: “it is the vanity, not the ease, or the pleasure, which

interests us.”^24

A useful way to distinguish between objective and subjective benefits

is through the distinction between prestige and pride. While prestige is

generated through actors’ estimates of the approbative collective assess-

ment of a third party, pride is produced through an assessment of their

own social standing. Thus, I feel proud when I believe that everyone else

believes that I am worthy of respect.^25 The subjective benefits of pres-

tige, therefore, operate through the generation of pride. While pride is

subjective, it is still a social concept because it relies on a reading of the

collective assessment of one’s community. As long as the feeling of pride

provides sufficient subjective benefits to the actor, it can motivate and di-

rect her behavior.

While the desire for prestige may motivate individuals, the question re-

mains whether it can motivate groups. The extension of motivations such

as prestige, honor, or emotion to a state, especially when analyzed as a uni-

tary actor, runs the risk of anthropomorphism. This invokes the problem

of aggregation, extending a theory from the individual level to that of the

state or the international system, which plagues a broad swath of interna-

tional relations theory. In the case of prestige, studies in social psychology

provide a possible solution by showing the prevalence of prestige- seeking

behavior not only among individuals but also across groups.

One of the most robust findings of social psychology is the recurrence

of intergroup discrimination. Following the pioneering work of Henry

Tajfel, repeated experiments demonstrate that actors tend to favor in-

group members and discriminate against outsiders. Tajfel and Turner

( 1986 ) developed social identity theory as an explanation for this discrim-

ination, rooting the theory in individual desire to maximize self- esteem.

One possible way to gain self- esteem is through identification with a

group that compares favorably to others. Cialdini et al. ( 1976 ) describe

this as “basking in reflected glory.”^26 An individual gains prestige because

she belongs to a respected group. Accordingly, group members have an

incentive to discriminate against the out- group in the hope of improving