We explain what and what the basic needs of human beings are. Also, what does Maslow's pyramid consist of?
What are basic needs?
The basic, essential or fundamental needs of the human being are the essential minimum requirements that must be met to survive such as access to drinking water and food.
There is no single criterion regarding how many or what these fundamental needs are. The traditional economic position states that they are few, but infinite and insatiable, while other positions understand that they are few, finite and classifiable.
What the different existing criteria do agree on is that the basic needs are their own and shared by all humanity without distinction of culture, ethnic groups or historical moment.
The satisfaction of basic human needs serves as an indicator to distinguish between the different strata of poverty that exist. People who are unable to provide themselves with these fundamental needs are those who are lowest in the social pyramid.
See also: Poverty
Characteristics of basic needs
Fundamental human needs are characterized by being:
- Simultaneous. It requires all of them at the same time, and the satisfaction of just one does not make the others stop being urgent.
- Complementary. If one fails, the others fail, since you cannot exist with only one satisfied.
- Not marketable. It is not morally acceptable for them to be part of a business or for them to be used for the enrichment of a few.
On the other hand, basic needs dictate the fundamental rights of every human being, in accordance with natural law and international agreements on human rights (HR).
What are the basic needs?
There is no universally accepted list of basic human needs, although most of them consider the following:
- Subsistence. It refers to both food and drinking water, essential elements to keep the body alive, and access to preventive and curative health.
- Protection. It refers to the need for shelter and protection from danger. It can refer to the need for a home or clothing suitable for the climate.
- Keen. It refers to the social and emotional consideration of third parties, that is, the need for love and acceptance from the environment. This need is normally provided by the family.
- Stake. It refers to being an active part of society, to training, having a job, looking after one's own interests.
- Leisure. It refers to free and rest time, to dedicate to reflection, enjoyment or the pursuit of passions: inventing, composing, interpreting, imagining.
- Identity. It refers to the need to have one's own name and identification, as well as a personal history and its formal recognition by others.
- Freedom. It refers to the possibility of choosing one's own actions, deciding for one's own body and one's own life, without being subject to the will of third parties.
What is Maslow's pyramid?
Maslow's pyramid is a graphic and theoretical representation that establishes different hierarchical levels to organize human needs from the most priority ones (at the base of the pyramid) to the most accessory ones (at the top).
This pyramid was created by the American psychologist Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) in the mid-20th century, as a scale to measure the degree of urgency of human needs.
In Maslow's pyramid, the different types of needs follow one another from the first steps of the pyramid (where the fundamental needs are, shared by the entire species) to the top (where the needs become less urgent and more abstract) .
Therefore, on this ascending path we move from supporting the body to professional fulfillment or affection, with the understanding that it is impossible to climb from one step to the next until the needs of the previous step are not satisfied.
Maslow's pyramid includes the following levels:
- Physiological needs. They are those needs of the body and the physiological perpetuation of life. They are found at the base of the pyramid, where they represent the first step of all.
- Security needs. They are those needs that guarantee a continuous existence free of threats (adverse climatic phenomena, predators, etc.).
- Membership needs. They are those needs that have to do with the sense of belonging to a specific society and that are expressed in feelings such as love, camaraderie or solidarity.
- Recognition needs. They are those needs linked to the valuation of the individual by other members of society, which directly affects their self-esteem.
- Self-actualization needs. They are those needs of a more abstract and complex type, which have to do with moral, spiritual, creative or any other type of self-realization, that is, with individual and subjective aspirations.
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References
- Doyal, L and Gough, I. (1994). A theory of human needs. Icaria.
- Solé, C. (2019). The Pyramid of Human Needs. Loguez editors.
- University of Córdoba. (sf). “Classification of needs”. Notes for the subject Introduction to economics. https://www.uco.es/
