First proposed by the American psychologist Abraham Maslow in 1943, pc (pre-catastrophe) was the idea that individual humans have stages of growth that are only supported when earlier stages are actualized.
These stages are in fundamental order:
Physiological Needs
Air, Water, Food, Heat, Clothing, Shelter, Sleep and excretion of bodily wastes are essential for life. Without these physiological needs being met, an individual will be unable to progress to the next stage.
Safety Needs
Once physiological needs are met, humans must feel safe, including health, personal, emotional and financial security.
The Charter guaranteed these two levels of needs. The hope was that individuals living with those two foundational levels being met could create and live in a unified community that continued to fulfill the further needs of individuals, something that hadn’t been easy to do for the large majority of people on the surface.
Love and Belonging Needs
The next level to aspire to is interpersonal and social belonging. Family, Friendships, intimacy, trust, and affection are all human needs. As life in the habitats continued, people began forming heart and blood families and had enough personal safety to form these relationships.
Esteem Needs
As people know they belong and have those needs above these fulfilled, a person can begin fulfilling their need for self-esteem, accomplishment and respect.
Self-Actualization Needs
A person’s realization of their potential, self-fulfillment, and personal growth.
Read more at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs