![]() In infancy, it may be as simple as having a popular playmate. ![]() Children who are perceived to be popular or ‘cool’ rise to the top of their social groups.īeing cool comes from a set of behaviors from a very young age. Social stratification occurs at a very young age in children’s peer groups. Nevertheless, as the nation of origin is an ascribed status, it’s hard to escape it during the initial interaction. Hopefully, with increased social interaction with you, people will come to disregard their initial assumptions about your nationality. Similarly, Americans can be judged to be rude and loud but also generous tippers. When traveling around the world, you may come to learn that your nationality has a set of stereotypes surrounding it.Īs an Australian, sometimes people initially stereotype me in both positive (laid-back, friendly) and negative (socially backward, irrelevant) ways. Here, you can see how high status can help you get things more easily in life. While at first, they might not have been true friends, you had a way to instigate the friendship which may have blossomed into a true friendship. Possession of physical goods like a sports car, mansion, expensive watch, or the latest technological gadget, can help a person achieve a higher status.įor example, if you were to have a large pool in your mansion, you may get a lot more friends or adoring fans because you can draw them in by inviting them over for a swim. Similarly, being an alma mater of the same college as a person interviewing you for a job may be valuable if that person has a bias toward people who went to the same college as them (and even better if you were in the same fraternity or sorority!). For example, being a member of the stonemasons can grant you access to powerful businesspeople who can help you get ahead in life. Membership of certain groups and organizations can give you status. While the broader culture might see that person as having low status, within the group, they may enjoy prestige due to their countercultural leather jacket or black leather boots. Some sub-cultures will also have their own fashion trends that help show someone’s membership of a group. People buy fashionable and even brand-name clothing to make themselves look like they have a degree of prestige.įor example, buying expensive brands like Gucci and Georgio Armani can make you look like you have a lot of wealth as well as high-end taste. These might include being treated with more respect by police and business people and being invited to more events. Sociologists such as Max Weber argue that people with high social status have privileges in society that people with low status do not. Low Status : You are not well respected or even outcast by society due to a lack of wealth, prestige, education, etc.High Status: You’re well respected due to your wealth, career, or social influence.Social status refers to the ways people in society perceive you.
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