AIM Framework glossary
Post-Appetitive Society
Canonical definition
A post-appetitive society is one where, for most people most of the time, basic A-needs are reliably met, so marginal gains in income and production increasingly flow into I-pursuits and M-intensive competition rather than into sheer survival.
Explanation
In rich societies, the median person is not choosing between hunger and food, but between different school systems, careers, brands, and status packages, which shifts the motivational landscape toward Intrinsic Motivation and Mimetic Desire. This makes design of I-infrastructure and M-governance the central policy problem, because simply growing GDP no longer guarantees improvements in lived well-being.
Epistemic status
Validated Empirical Pattern.