Your definition looks like an economics heuristic. There are advantages to that frame but it's worth remembering that the human brain doesn't run on rational self-interest. There are a lot of

Status in bamboo tribes get's investigated by scientists by looking at eye gazes. Which bamboo looks at which one for how long.

Humans quite frequently use heuristics driven by who would win a physical conflict even if that's not important in the context where they want to judge status.