What is social status?
Each person lives his life in society and,accordingly, takes a certain position relative to other people. This position of the individual among other people is called social status. The concept of social status was first proposed by the lawyer Henry Man.
The society not only gives an opportunity to an individualhave a social status, but also provides mechanisms for its maintenance. On the structure of society and its features, you can read in the article What is society.
Social status has its own characteristics and can be of several kinds. Consider them.
Types of social statuses
Specialists-sociologists distinguish the following types of statuses:
- The natural, ie. the status acquired by a person at birth. This is gender, race, nationality. Usually this status remains unchanged throughout life.
- Acquired (achieved) status, i.e. such position in a society which is acquired by own achievements, physical efforts, etc. (post, job, position, etc.). Such a status may vary depending on the life situation.
- The prescribed (attributed) status is a position that is acquired by the person involuntarily during life (family status, age, etc.) Such status may also change.
Details on different types of status can be found in the remarkable article What is the status.
Sometimes the statuses may contradict each other: the same person can occupy different rank positions in different hierarchies. For example, a highly educated person is forced to occupy a position where he is engaged in heavy physical labor.
Information for thought you can also learn from an interesting article What is important in life | Social status and career.
