The ascentist value system is a set of qualities, contributions, and acts that society has decided are important. It is an agreement between its members to distribute society’s rewards to those who exemplify these values in the form of social approval, recognition, influence, authority, wealth, status, celebrity and many other ways.
In this system, a famous and wealthy businessman is more valued than someone who works a minimum wage job serving fast food. An attractive person is more valued than an unattractive person. We go to great lengths not to say this, but society clearly celebrates the one while ignoring or even maligning the other.
As a member, I internalize and reproduce this system by participating in the redistribution of social rewards away from the majority to a select minority who exemplifies the value, often excluding myself. If I am one of the celebrated, I receive a surplus of ascribed value from the rest of the participants. If I am one of the least valued, then I voluntarily accept my own diminishment in order to elevate others.
On an individual level, it starts by simply being aware of and accepting the social construct. Then, I participate in the redistribution by identifying individuals who possesses the qualities or behave in a way valued by the system. By thinking, and then talking about this person, I have not only agreed to, but am participating in society’s distributive efforts.
The value construct replicates itself across countless physical and mental qualities, characteristics, and acts. Depending on the social environment, the values and social rewards will vary. For example, in modern America, those with wealth or physical beauty are given outsized attention. Some believe that value is accorded to those based on their race, while others vehemently disagree. Authority is given to those with formally-recognized education and/or acceptable views on establishment topics.
In modern society, these values are forcefully injected into my life through media, advertisements, entertainment, news, socializing, and virtually every other mode of communication. The lines of value can be endlessly qualified, and will be relative to the observer. But to the descentist, the social value system is a pernicious distortion that stands between me and my reorientation.
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