The drive to acquire

The drive to acquire potentially knows no bounds, hence the ever–escalating competition for status–defining goods, for flaunting greater wealth, for achieving higher relative rank. The pursuit is a futile one. There will always be someone better off than you. But that doesn't usually stop us. Our first driver does not listen untutored to the voice of reason. Without help, it does not recognise the alternative of doing our sensible best rather than driving us to maximise our position. Robert Frank in his book "Luxury Fever" wrote of:

"A relentless focus on relative position that seems more like a recipe for unhappiness than a useful motivational tool."

From an evolutionary or biological perspective, the drive to acquire is not about achieving happiness, it is about beating the competition and proving it. Tragically, for those who have not had a chance to stand back, establish their own objectives and expectations for happiness, the unsatisfied drive to acquire competitively leads to the profound status anxiety described by Alain de Botton (see Sidebar 2). The drive to acquire stimulates competition and ambition, valuable traits in themselves. The trouble is, it gets out of hand. Leaders pay themselves excessive salaries, dictators bleed their country and hoard monies abroad, and megalomaniacs are driven to take over one company after another, no matter the premium involved.

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