Importance Game vs the Leveling Game

Discussion

Erik Torenberg:

"We see a great tension between people wanting to signal high status in order to gain resources while also wanting to do so subtly in order to avoid the Ressentiment of those lower in status than them.

Agnes Callard identifies two games that people play in order to do this in her great piece: the “importance game” and the “leveling game.”

“In the Importance Game, participants jockey for position. This usually works by way of casual references to wealth, talent, accomplishment or connections, but there are many variants. I can, for instance, play this game by pretending to eschew it: “Let’s get straight down to business” can telegraph my being much too important to waste time with such games; or your being so unimportant as to render the game otiose.”

“The other game is the Leveling Game, and it uses empathy to equalize the players. So I might performatively share feelings of stress, inadequacy or weakness; or express discontent with the Powers that Be; or home in on a source of communal outrage, frustration or oppression.“

True pros play both games simultaneously. “Complaining about how busy one is hits a sweet spot of oppression — I cannot manage my life! — and importance — because I am so in demand!”

Another example of this phenomena in action is charity: the act of giving signals both how rich/successful you are *and* how egalitarian you are. People want to be both extremely successful and extremely humble & charitable. Therapy is another easy example. Discussing how you’re struggling while subtly implying you have the money and time to spend on yourself signals your status as higher than those who can’t afford this luxury. Another classic example of this is people who went to Harvard saying they went to school in Boston."

(https://eriktorenberg.substack.com/p/status-vulnerability-and-status-vulnerability)