Question in the title. My messy thoughts below.

There seems to be a concept that everyone deserves respect irrespective of their achievements or lack of them, but that’s not how world appears to be: homeless person is ignored beginning on the street while a Noble prize winner will be given money and privileges for their contributions.

It looks like unearned respect and human rights are very very basic - while everything else has to be earned. So do “normal” people just track their social status and respect themselves based on that? Or do they have some equilibrium? If the latter, how are they motivated to achieve anything?

Or perhaps everyone just tries to reach a level they believe they should have in society - in which case NPD individuals are those where expectations are far from the reality?