I think trying to analyse status purely in 'practical terms' is somewhat to miss the core driver of it. As a species, we tend to 'status-seeking' behaviours I think because we've evolved as primates who lived in medium-sized social groups where your position in the social hierarchy mattered a lot -- and judgement of others is exactly what defines your position. So part of your brain has evolved to make social comparisons, to obsess about what other people think of you, and to try to improve and act out your position in a hierarchy, even if objectively that behaviour in the modern world is not logically defensible or something that will make you happier.