Another such word is 'taboo', which used to mean forbidden but now really means desirable. It s hard to see how this is to be taken as an argument against socialism. The axiom from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs , although originating in Marxist socialism, is something all socialists would strive for a socialist society is not one in which Professor Hawking would be expected to perform physical labour, since that simply isn t in his abilities. Status our preoccupation with status. Of course, most humans want to feel like they belong in their group, many want to be the Alpha-human of their particular group.
Many people associate apparent wealth with status.
However, somebody can have a big house but have no wealth to speak of, but still have a high status. It is not money, but capital, that is the gauge by which status is measured. Of course, in a capitalist society, this is only to be expected. Capital is not the sole status-symbol in our societies today, there is also political power. The true status symbol in any society is success.